


All for Nought

by Vee_Angel



Series: The Biavalia Trilogy [1]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Multi, Sexual Slavery, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2019-09-05 04:48:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 50,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16803949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vee_Angel/pseuds/Vee_Angel
Summary: This story follows the dutiful asari slave Biavalia Bi'tarah as she attempts to recruit Morinth to aid her master in ensuring their safety from the competing slavers of the Terminus Systems. In an attempt to track down the Ardat-Yakshi, Biavalia ends up engaged in a dangerous gambit wherein her and her master have tricked Shepard into believing that Morinth has been abducted by slavers, and she's the only one who can help rescue her. Unexpectedly, Shepard brings Jack along on the mission as an expert on the criminals of the Terminus Systems. Perhaps just as unexpectedly, Biavalia finds herself falling in love with Jack. Biavalia's charmingly overt sexuality, along with her eager willingness to please others, results in a number of erotic shenanigans, as she struggles to keep her master's scheme a secret from the two humans.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This story is the first in a trilogy of novel-length erotic fan-fictions set in the Mass Effect universe. A few things to keep in mind: 
> 
> \--The content of this story will end up being, at points, rather extreme. Since it would be tedious to identify and list every trigger-worthy scene, I ask that you simply assume that if there are acts of sexual violence or degradation that may trigger you, there’s a good chance you will find them in this story. (the second and third books will contain an even heavier emphasis on extreme kinks and fetishes, however)  
> \--I’ve attempted to make this story as close to canon-compliant as possible. For those not familiar with fan-fiction terminology, “canon-compliant” essentially means that the story is intended to hypothetically take place in that canonical universe. Essentially, that means that there should be nothing in the story that one could definitely use to say that this story *didn’t* happen in the universe.  
> \--I actually began writing this story with the third book (though I didn’t know it at the time). It came about at the request of an online rp partner. It slowly formed into a novel-length story, which in turn expanded into the final novel of a trilogy. This story is actually part of my first ever attempt at writing fiction, so keep in mind that I am very new to fiction-writing. 
> 
> Story Background  
> \--The story takes place shortly after Mass Effect 2. During which the Alliance Marine Commander Shepard and the pirate/criminal Jack (aka Subject Zero) were recruited by the terrorist/human-supremacist organization called Cerberus (this organization also acquired Jack as a baby and, in order to maximize her biotic potential, forced her into cruel experiments through most of her youth) in order to defeat an enemy called the Collectors. There were many other members of the crew of the Normandy, but this story focuses primarily on those two.  
> \--The version of Commander Shepard in this story is female; she grew up on a human colony called Mindoir, where as a youth, she witnessed her colony being invaded by Batarian slavers (she managed to escape capture herself). She’s an expert in weapons and combat, but has no biotic aptitude and minimal engineering skill.  
> \--During the events of the second game, Commander Shepard (at least the version depicted in this story) recruited an asari Justicar (essentially an order of warrior nuns sworn to uphold justice) named Samara who asked for Shepard’s help in finding and executing her daughter. She explained that her daughter, Morinth, was an “Ardat-Yakshi,” meaning she had a genetic condition that only occurs in pureblood asari. An Ardat-Yakshi is essentially an alien succubus or vampire. While all asari have the ability to meld minds, for an Ardat-Yakshi, melding is always fatal. Furthermore, Ardat-Yakshi have the ability to strongly influence the minds of those around them, even at a distance (in fact, they sometimes induced entire communities to worship them as gods). When Shepard finally did help Justicar Samara track down her daughter (the Ardat-Yakshi Morinth), there was a stand-off where the two asari were evenly matched. Commander Shepard, believing that Morinth was more useful to her mission, chose to side with Morinth and kill Justicar Samara. Morinth then posed as her mother during the remainder of their mission against the Collectors.

People stared as the glimmering light danced over her sapphire skin; she moved her body to the pulsing rhythms that pounded through the seedy nightclub. While most members of her species had grown used to being stared at with lust, Biavalia Bi’tarah displayed her sexuality in a way that was immodest, even amongst the asari. Her hips were adorned with a loose golden chain; hanging from the front and back were long strips of deep red cloth that did the absolute minimum to hide the parts of her that some species considered “indecent.” She wore nothing above her waist, save for the collar and cuffs that proudly displayed her status as a slave.

Yet the uninhibited sensuality with which she moved her body would suggest to anyone watching that she was was bound to serve none but her own passions. She hoped the one she pursued that night would think the same.

A young, brown-haired human girl approached her on the dance floor, “Can I dance with you?” she shouted over the thumping, electronic beats. The asari moved closer, draping her arm over the girl’s shoulder, her flexible body writhing in waves as she danced with her. Biavalia’s hand caressed her own body as the human looked into her violet eyes, transfixed by the nearly naked blue woman whose body was now grinding against hers.

 _This girl shouldn’t be here_ , she thought, _there are dangerous people watching._

She knew she couldn’t focus on that right now. She can’t save everyone, but if she could draw out one particular person, she might be able to save herself and her Master. She needed to seem darkly captivating, she needed to seem unsafe; her target hated being bored, she was drawn to the taboo, the hedonistic, the violent. Biavalia needed to convince anyone watching that she embodied these things.

The human looked up at the statuesque asari as though she was a goddess. Biavalia gently guided her toward a wall at the edge of the dance-floor; at which point she pressed the girls wrists against the wall with aggressive lust and kissed the young women whose name she had yet to even ask. She pushed her body against the human nearly as hard as she pressed her lips. The aggressiveness of her sexuality was almost pornographic, especially in such a public place. After several seconds, she pulled back from her dance partner; the girl looked with wide eyed awe. “Wow,” she said, “are all asari like this?”

Biavalia smiled and pinned the human’s hands to her hips as she danced, pulling the girl backward out into the center of the room. She took her partners hands and guided them over her body as she moved. Sliding the pink hands over her smooth, lightly textured blue skin. The girl’s fingers twitched as her hands were led across the firmly muscled, serpentine flesh. Her body was hard and athletic; the only softness was found at her impressively endowed chest, where the blushing humans fingers were now being pressed by the strong asari hands.

She swayed her hips in circles as the brown haired woman took advantage of the overt invitation to touch her. Squeezing and caressing up and down each others bodies as they moved to the music.

 _This ought to get us some attention_ , the asari thought as they danced with an eroticism that made sex look tame.

“Hey!” a gruff voice said from beside them, “How much for the two of you?”

 _This should do nicely_ , Biavalia thought with a smile.

“Just ignore him” she said loudly enough for the man to hear, “He’s a loser.”

The human looked nervously at the rugged Batarian next to them, who took a step closer to them.

“You’d better watch your tone.” he said threateningly, “I just made a big score, and I have plenty of credits to blow. Come on, you could make a lot of money tonight.”

The human girl began to get agitated, “Back off, creep! We’re not whores!”

“Well this one definitely is.” he said, grabbing Biavalia by the arm. There was a moment of silence as the woman looked back and forth between them, not sure what to do.

Biavalia spoke first, “You’re right... I am a whore. But I wouldn’t fuck you even if you offered me enough money to buy my own planet.”

“Haha! Playing hard to get.” he said, his grubby fingers still digging into her arm, “Maybe I have that much money. But you’ll have to show me that you’re worth it.”

The asari slave stared straight-faced for a few seconds. “Okay, I’ll make you a deal. How about you give me a peak at what you’ve got, and I’ll give you a peak at what I’ve got.” Her finger slid down her torso, ending at the front of her loin-cloth, to ensure no misunderstanding as to what she meant.

The man grinned as he pulled a PDA out of his pocket and discretely entered his access code. He turned the screen to show Biavalia a rather impressive balance in his account. “Oh my!” she said as she placed a hand flirtatiously on his chest, “That’s quite a big score indeed.”

“All right, your turn.”

The nearly naked asari faced him, looking him dead in the eye with a coy grin. With a dancer’s grace and flexibility she lifted one leg straight out and brought it up to a standing split, the toes of her raised foot pointing at the ceiling. She moved her leg forward until the back of her knee rested on the man’s shoulder just beside his neck.

With a sudden burst of speed, the other leg came up to slam into the opposite side of his neck. Her thighs now scissored with crushing force just beneath his jawbone. Her torso whipped downward, her momentum flipping the man on his back. She was now kneeling on the floor, the suffocating man now pinned beneath her cunt, the blood-flow to his brain cut off by the crushing force of her muscular thighs.

Biavalia closed her eyes and began to whip her head back and forth, dancing to the rhythm of the music, seemingly indifferent to the thrashing man begging for oxygen trapped beneath her pelvis. While the other patrons were accustomed to witnessing violence, the style with with the asari perpetrated it resulted in a decent number of those around her stopping to stare at the bizarre scene of the dancing girl as the body clamped between her legs slowly went limp.

As she felt her victim lose consciousness, she discreetly palmed the man’s PDA before coming back up to her feet through an acrobatic back-roll. She took a step toward the human girl she’d been dancing with and placed the unlocked PDA in her hand before pulling her in close. Whispering into her ear, she said, “I don’t know why you came, but there are dangerous people here. This should be enough money to get you set-up somewhere safe, with a decent amount left over for emergencies.” She kissed her gently on the lips before turning and striding confidently to the opposite side of the club.

As she approached the bar, she saw a pair of turians flirting with a smartly dressed asari girl. One of them was dramatically acting out some war story, seemingly trying to impress her with their military prowess, but as she watched, she realized their true intention. The quiet one dissolved a hallex into her drink as the other distracted her with theatrics.

As she passed their table, she picked up the girl’s drink and poured it down her throat without breaking stride.

“That bitch!” she heard the sky-blue girl shout from behind her as she continued walking with a contented smile.

 _Better me than her_ , she thought, having dosed herself earlier that evening with a medicine that would mostly neutralize the effect of narcotics, she needed to stay sharp if her mission was going to succeed. She eventually came to a table where she sat alone, looking out across the noisy, dark room.

 _Where the hell is she??_ Biavalia thought desperately, _It’s been weeks, I’ve caused trouble at every sleazy bar and seedy nightclub in this system. What more can I do to pique her interest?_

“You know, I’ve been watching you.” the voice came from the shadows behind her.

Biavalia’s heart soared. Could this be her?

“You behave as though you’re seeking something… exhilarating.”

 _That voice_ , Biavalia thought, _dark and seductive. Like a poison so sweet you can’t help but swallow. This is who I’ve been waiting for._

She stood and turned to the figure in the shadows, “I’m looking for someone who isn’t boring. Someone who frightens me.” she whispered sensually.

The figure in the shadows smiled, “Follow me.”

She did as commanded and the mysterious woman led her to a table far from the dance floor and the crowd. It was quieter, more private. The two asari sat across from one another. Biavalia took in the image of the woman across from her. The piercing, icy-blue eyes matched her frost-colored skin. The le’ku of her scalp were covered in reptilian scales and nearly black, a jagged line across her forehead where the dark skin wreathed her pale-blue face. Biavalia mentally took note of the unusual markings that appeared almost like a human hair-line, thinking that if this didn’t work out, the pattern might possibly allow her to find other asari who might share this woman’s genetic mutation.

“My name is Morinia.” the seductively sinister woman said.

 _She changed her name, but only slightly._ Biavalia thought, _I’ve finally found you, Morinth. I just need to keep from scaring her off before I get a chance to ask for her help._

“Biavalia Bi’tarah, though you can call me Beebee.”

“Cute name.” Morinth said as she signaled the bartender to bring her a drink. “I bet it makes people underestimate you.”

The two asari locked eyes with one another, both challenging the other with menacing, yet flirtatious smirk.

“So you’re supposed to be a dangerous woman?” Beebee said with an arrogance she knew would bait this woman into opening up.

“I’ve known my share of violence.” Morinth replied as the bartender handed her a drink. “But you… you seem to get off on it.”

“I do.” Beebee said. She leaned back in the booth confidently, spreading her arms across the backrest in such a way as to focus attention on her large, unclothed breasts. “I’m fascinated by everything my body and mind can experience. I’m drawn to the darkness; pleasure, passion, pain. All the things that others avoid, I want to experience in their true agonizing glory. You know, something about you speaks to me, Morinia…. I could be wrong, but I feel that you might be a kindred spirit.” She stared with a predatory gaze as the woman across from her leaned in.

Morinth laughed quietly, “I feel the same way. Tell me, what do you think of the music here?”

 _Such a banal question,_ she thought, _She wants to see if I can keep her interest._ She stared out from under her eyebrows with a deathly serious expression, “It makes me want to do bad things. It makes me want to have bad things done to me by bad people who won’t care if I beg them to stop.”

Morinth had been raising her glass to her lips, but had stopped short upon hearing her reply. _That got her attention,_ Beebee thought. _Now let’s see if she can keep my interest._ Her expression suddenly softened, “So what kind of vids do you like?”

“Have you seen Vaenia?” she asked.

“Ahh, so you’re the type who likes sophisticated smut.” Beebee remarked. “I’ve seen it. Heard it was supposed to be controversial. It was…. well made, I suppose. But I tend to be drawn to things a bit more… raw. Things that excite me.”

“Tell me what excites you.” Morinth insisted, the corners of her mouth almost imperceptibly curled up as she gave her rapt attention to the sparsely attired women across from her.

“There’s a particular vid I keep returning to again and again. It features a zeroball player named Niraka T’ket.” Beebee began slowly.

Morinth leaned back in her seat, “Oh… you like sports.” she said in a deadpan voice, as she looked off into the distance, her coy smirk suddenly disappearing as she sipped her drink.

Beebee, undeterred by her companion’s apparent boredom, slowly went on, “You see, Niraka plays full-contact zeroball. She’s known to be quite the bruiser on the field. Though her sadism extends into her personal life as well.”

Morinth’s pale eyes turned back to meet Beebee’s violet ones.

“Not many people have seen this video. In fact, Niraka herself wasn’t even aware it was being made.” Beebee spoke slowly. “She’s strong, she likes to see her strength overcome a powerful opponent. But every once in a while, she likes to take her winnings and pays to see what her strength can do to someone who won’t fight back.”

Morinth has leaned forward; she’s still, sitting on the edge of her seat now.

“I watch her on the screen,” Beebee continues slowly, making sure each sentence builds suspense. “She’s with this little asari slave-whore. She beats her, breaks her bones. The whore screams, she begs. Niraka pulls a large club from her bag. She forces it inside the girl.” Beebee stops to close her eyes and take a slow, almost orgasmic breath before continuing, “Rapes her until she bleeds. The whore says she’ll do anything to make the pain stop. Niraka pisses on the floor, says that she’ll let her go if she licks it up. The pathetic little cunt believes her; she humiliates herself. Niraka doesn’t care. She holds her down and peels the le’ku from her scalp one. by. one.” Beebee mimes the action by running her fingers back-to-front slowly across the asari tendrils adorning her head. “The screams are piercing.”

Morinth’s eyes are wide now, she let out a slight gasp at the mention of the whore getting her scalp flayed. The small smirk widened as she bared her teeth in a predatory smile, “Did she die?”

The concept of watching a snuff-film as foreplay no-doubt excited the murderous asari. Inwardly, Beebee made an effort not to show any sign of anxiety at sitting across from the super-powered psychopath.

“No.” Beebee said, matter-of-factly. She turned slightly in her seat and put her feet up on the corner of the table. “The whore was owned by a human. A doctor; he always put her back together, made her pretty for the next customer. She worshipped him, let him do whatever he wanted to her. She was born a slave, she didn’t know any other way to be. Such a waste of beauty and talent. If she had only learned to think for herself, she’d have realized that she could have had any life she chose. With the things she’d been trained to do, to endure, she could have fucked her way across the galaxy and made a fortune in the process.”

Morinth eyed her curiously, her expression urged her to continue.

“She was beautiful, too. Her Master made sure of that. Good-looking asari whores are a dime a dozen, so he had to go the extra mile. She had a pretty face, sure. Regal violet stripes that matched her eyes. He had a tattooist extend the facial markings down the rest of her body, said that people wouldn’t be spending much time looking at her face.” As she spoke she slowly drew a finger down the side of her striped face. “He gave her huge tits, too. He told her it’d make sure everyone who saw her would know that she was a whore.” Her finger descended down her torso and circled one of her impressively large breasts before making its way down her firm abdomen.

Slowly, her legs parted until each of her heels perched on opposite corners of the table. “He even gave her a tight, little human cunt, too.” Biavalia casually pulled aside the red strip of fabric that hung from her waist to reveal a perfectly formed human-looking vulva in place of the featureless slit that normally dwelt between asari thighs.

Morinth stared her body up and down, transfixed by this sadomasochist’s tale of twisted depravity. “You’re talking about yourself. You’re the whore.” Morinth said with a licentious smile, she’d placed her half-full drink down several seconds before, her attention was now focused on Beebee, and nothing else.

“No, I’m not _the_ whore. Not anymore.” Beebee quickly swung her feet back down and leaned in close enough to whisper, “I’m the fucking queen of whores.”

Morinth smiled widely, she was hanging on her every word, every gesture.

“What did it feel like? When Niraka tortured you? Knowing that she could end your life at any moment?” Morinth asked.

“Exhilarating. Most people rage against death, against pain, fear, humiliation. But if you accept them, if you embrace them…. Well, let’s just say that in those moments, I felt more freedom as a slave than most people feel their entire lives. I didn’t escape because I hated the cruelty. I escaped because I hated everything else. Sitting alone, waiting for the next customer to fuck me in the ass so I could convince them that they were the best I’ve ever had. It felt so routine, so safe. But every now and then I’d get someone really dangerous. Someone who wanted to do things that wouldn’t even occur to most people. Things that frightened me.”

“It’s only when you flirt with death that you feel truly alive.” Morinth said.

Beebee smiled as she took a moment to consider whether Morinth had intended the irony in that remark. She went on, “I heard a story once. It was about an asari mercenary who came to be employed by a rather vicious matriarch. It was said that the matriarch liked to meld with her victims at the point of death. Taking inspiration from her employer, she began to do the same. Eventually she became addicted to it. It was no longer something she did just in battle, she started seducing people, innocent people, just so that she could murder them and feel their death. She was eventually captured and executed. But before she died, she described what it was like. She said….”

Beebee paused, pretending to recall details from this story she had memorized in preparation for this encounter.

“She said it was a sort of ‘burst of life.’” Beebee explained, “Like an orgasm, but instead of being the release of a few hours of sexual tension, it was a release of an entire life. Every thought, every bit of fear, anxiety, joy, hope, everything; all exploding into nothingness in an instant. She said that her whole existence became based on experiencing it again and again. After she was convicted, she begged them to end her life.”

“She wanted to experience it one last time.” Morinth completed the thought.

“Yes. The humans have a term for creatures like her. Women who seduce and kill. It had a rather elegant sound to it.” she paused for a moment, as though searching her memory, “Succubus.”

Almost condescendingly, Morinth replied in a quiet voice, “Surely, you know the asari have a term for that as well.”

Beebee furrowed her brow, “Actually, I don’t. Born into slavery, remember? I didn’t get much of the traditional asari education.”

“Well allow me to educate you.” Morinth began. “There’s a phrase in an old asari dialect that means ‘demon of the night winds.’”

 _Whoa!_ Beebee thought, _Is she actually going to admit it right here?_ Her mind echoed the words as the woman across from her spoke them.

 _Ardat-Yakshi_  
“Ardat-Yakshi.”

Both women’s hearts raced with excitement at the secret they each held.

Morinth went on, “In ancient times, they were worshipped as gods. They were able to dominate the minds of anyone weaker than them.”

“What about those who were stronger?” Beebee asked in awe.

“No one is stronger than an Ardat-Yakshi. In fact, that’s how they kill. They would enchant their victims with their charm; and when they mate, their partner would be filled with an ecstasy so immense that it overwhelms their nervous system and they die.”

Biavalia stared in quiet awe for a few seconds, “Do you know such a goddess?”

Morinth laughed quietly, believing inaccurately, that the beguiling women across from her had flattered her by accident. “I’m sorry, Beebee, there are no more Ardat-Yakshi.” Her eyes narrowed and shifted sideways, her subtle grin spoke volumes about the sinister thoughts racing through her mind. “Do you want to go someplace more private?”

“We can go back to my place. I’ll show you the vid of Niraka-”

“No, my place is closer.” Morinth said abruptly.

“Hmmm. Let me think, should I go home with a violent stranger who spent most of the night watching me from the shadows.” Beebee began in a playful tone, “Doesn’t seem like something any sane person would do. I might never see the light of day again. You might hurt me, rape me. You could even tie me up in a dark room and torture me.” she paused briefly, “You might even kill me…”

A big toothy grin slowly formed on Beebee’s face. “Let’s go.”

The two women traveled to a tall building nearby and ride the elevator to the top floor penthouse.

“Whoa.” Beebee said, taking in the sight of the large, opulently decorated apartment. At the far end was a floor-to-ceiling window that looked out over the flickering lights of the busy alien metropolis. The view was stunning; from this high up, she could see for miles.

“Enjoying the view?” Morinth asked. Beebee had made her way to the window almost unconsciously.

“Yes.” she replied, “Where I come from, the gravity is too high to make buildings this tall.” She wondered if Morinth was actually paying rent, or if she’d simply used her power to dominate the landlord into giving her the apartment free of charge. Another thought crossed her mind that Morinth just as likely could have seduced and murdered the penthouse’s original occupant.

The predatory woman casually sat and watched as her prey marveled at the decor.

Beebee could feel the Ardat-Yakshi’s eyes on her as she moved about the room, it chilled her skin, almost as though her gaze itself was venomous. _I need to be very careful._ Beebee thought, _This isn’t a game. This woman could literally kill me with a thought. At some point I’ll need to let her know that I’ve been pursuing her without making her feel cornered. We need her help._

Morinth’s apartment was like a sort of dark museum. Paintings, sculptures, artifacts. All neatly organized, and all with themes of death and violence. She recognized one piece by an Elcor artist, and another that she was surprised to realize appeared to be an original Hieronymus Bosch. Though for most, she couldn’t even begin to guess their origins. Morinth occasionally made small comments about the pieces she was eyeing at any given time.

Eventually, she was puzzled to come across an artifact that she recognized from her studies of human history. Before she had a chance to ask, Morinth spoke, “That rifle was used during the Invasion of Normandy during Earth’s second World War. I’ve read that it was one of the most violent battles in human history.”

 _Peculiar,_ Beebee thought. _She could have picked items from any battle of any species… Why this one?_

“Isn’t the Normandy that ship that blew up the Collector base a few months back?” Beebee asked.

“It is.” she said, her eyes shifted sideways thoughtfully and she gave a knowing smile, “Let’s just say that the story piqued my interest in humans.”

Beebee felt a pit in her stomach, but tried not to let on. _That doesn’t make sense. Morinth’s mother Samara was on the Normandy. She’s a Justicar, sworn by oath to protect the righteous and kill the wicked. All our intel says that Morinth spent most of her life fleeing from her mother. Why would she want a reminder of the ship Samara served on in her living room? Dammit, I feel like I’m missing something important!_

“Something on your mind?” the voice came from just behind her. In her contemplations, Beebee hadn't realized that Morinth had moved from the couch.

Thinking quickly, she steadied her mind, “You mentioned…. Ardat-Yakshi….” Beebee gulped slightly, unable to completely disguise her anxiety. “The idea has been stuck in my head. Are you sure that there aren’t any alive anymore?”

Morinth took Beebee’s hand in hers, “Come sit with me.” She led her gently to the couch where they set next to one another. Morinth put her arm around Beebee’s shoulders and looked deep into her eyes. Beebee felt a pressure creeping into her mind like a hand pressing down on her consciousness. Suddenly, Morinth’s eyes went black.

The hand in her mind now felt like it was gripping. Pulling and molding her thoughts to the form that most pleased Morinth.

She looked at the woman in front of her and it was like looking upon the face of God. The rest of the room, the rest of existence, seemed to pale in comparison. Her thoughts were formed against her will into a singular purpose. Serve and please Morinth.

Her voice came like a choir of angels, but with far more beauty and power behind them. “I am Ardat-Yakshi. Tell me how you will worship your new Goddess.”

Suddenly Morinth’s eyes returned to their original frost blue. Light and color returned to the room and Beebee’s mind was once again her own, though the words still resonated insistently in her mind. Had she lacked experience in telepathic domination, the woman’s power might have enthralled her completely. But Beebee had spent enough time melding and altering the minds of slaves to make them compliant that she knew how to resist when the same techniques were used on her. Still, Morinth’s power was able to do in a few seconds what would take Beebee hours, possibly days; and she accomplished it without even fully melding.

Wanting to convince the pale-eyed woman that her domination was successful, Beebee reverently knelt at the Ardat-Yakshi’s feet. “I will worship you in any way that you request, my Goddess. I will offer you my body and mind to do with as you see fit. I will seduce others and bring them to you as offerings if that is what you desire. I will ensure that any who defy you will suffer the wrath of the Goddess Morinth, and -”

Beebee stopped suddenly, realizing her mistake. Anger sparked in the psychopath’s eyes.

“Did you say Morinth? Where did you hear that name?!?” She stood angrily and lifted her hand. Waves of blue light emanated from her palm as Beebee felt the tingly electric pressure of the woman’s devastating biotic power enveloping her. Her body rose into the air, unable to move.

Beebee tried to calm her panicked mind, “Let me explain, I think we can help each-”

“My mother sent you, didn’t she!?!? I should have known that killing her wouldn’t be enough to stop her fucking mission!”

 _Morinth killed Justicar Samara?_ Beebee thought, _And now she thinks I’ve been sent to perform her execution as a favor to her dead mother. This is bad. This is really bad!_

“Wait, please just-” Beebee tried to speak calmly to the raging demon, but to no avail.

“You wanted to die by the hands of an Ardat-Yakshi?? Well allow me to grant you that final wish!!!”

Beebee felt her body pulled helplessly toward Morinth. Her heart raced as mortal terror consumed her. The murderous asari’s icy eyes turned black as her hand roughly clutched the back of her neck.

“Embrace Eternity, Bitch!!!”

The sensation that flooded her nervous system was, for the first fraction of a second, reminiscent of pleasure. Like the slight sting of overstimulation immediately post-orgasm. But the sensation almost immediately magnified a thousand-fold. It grew to a feeling of icy needles being jabbed into every cubic millimeter of her body, then the needles felt as though they were vibrating and spinning, shredding her every muscle and turning her bones to splinters. The deafening sound in her head like electric screams drowned out everything else.

Then suddenly… silence, darkness. Her body felt numb, she couldn’t even tell which way was up or down. For a brief moment she considered the possibility that she was dead. But slowly her vision and hearing faded back in. She blinked a few times and realized that she was laying in a heap on the floor. Across the room she could see Morinth frantically packing things into a bag. Slowly, Beebee regained the ability to move her body. Clumsily, she pushed her body up from the floor. Morinth’s keen hearing detected the movement.

She spun around with a look of wide eyed shock, “How are you still alive?!” she shouted accusingly.

“Bi… biotic resistors, implanted in the menin… meninges.” Beebee barely managed to articulate.

“YOU HAD SURGERY TO HUNT ME!!??!!”

Beebee’s body was once again engulfed in the crushing tingle of Morinth’s biotic power.

“Please, let me ex-”

She wasn’t able to say the next word, as the vision of Morinth and the large apartment suddenly shot backward away from her. She barely felt her back collide with the glass of the large window, but she now felt the cold night air on her skin, and heard it whistling by her as she fell toward the planet’s surface, wreathed in the glimmer of broken glass.

_Shit._

She tried to get a hold of her panicked mind and traumatized body.

_Okay, from this height, in this gravity, I should have almost ten seconds left before I hit the ground. Focus!_

She took the quickest calming breath she could, and upon her slow exhalation, she focused on using her biotic power to lift her own body. Her thrashed nervous system made it difficult to focus well enough to use her biotics at all, but slowly she managed to decelerate her descent. The high pitched whistling of air turned to a lower whoosh. She was filled with hope until she looked down to realize how little distance she had in which to slow down.

“HOHPF!” the rather undignified sound forced out of her as her body collided with the street.

_I’m alive?? I’m alive!! Success!_

She laughed weakly as she considered the fact that the bar for success had been lowered nearly as quickly as she had just been. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the cool feeling of ground on her face.

 _So let’s review._ Beebee thought to herself, half flustered and half amused, _Didn’t manage to recruit the Ardat-Yakshi, but did get the chance to test the meningeal resistors. Conclusions, hurts like motherfucking hell, but protects the central nervous system from hemorrhage by Ardat-Yakshi melding. Bonus test….. learned I can survive a nine-hundred foot fall, apparently._

She sighed, and rolled into her left side to begin examining her broken body. She could tell a few ribs on her right side were broken from the collision with the ground. She suspected that her right ankle and kneecap may have been broken as well. And upon closer examination, she realized that she had a large piece of glass embedded in the back of her left thigh. She pulled it out to find it was, thankfully, a rather shallow wound. Other than a few scratches and small splinters of glass, her arms seemed to be intact. She struggled to climb back to her feet at least long enough for her to limp over to a nearby bench and sit down.

She activated her Omni-tool and contacted her Master. She knew that he’d be disappointed to know that she failed, but he’d be more disappointed if she allowed herself to suffer alone without asking for his help.

A deep, male voice came from her wrist, “Thank the goddess, I’ve been worried for hours.”

She smiled at the sound of him. To her, his voice felt like a warm, heavy blanket. “I’ve missed you too, my King. Sooooo, good news, the biotic resistors work!” Her voice had a quality of girlish playfulness. She was trying to soften the news that she’d been the victim of two consecutive murder attempts in the last five minutes.

“She tried to kill you?” he said quietly.

“Twice.” she said hesitantly, “When I didn’t die the first time, she threw me out a window.”

She heard him sigh, “Are you safe now?”

“As safe as I can be on this planet. I think Morinth is more focused on fleeing than on coming all the way down here to confirm that I made a pretty, purple puddle on the pavement.” she paused for a moment, “Try saying that five times fast.”

She knew her Master well enough that she could hear him trying to not smile on the other end of the line.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

***

She sat patiently meditating, she moved her attention throughout her body, trying to feel for any wounds or damage she hadn’t yet accounted for. The task proved difficult, as the damage to her peripheral nervous system had left her entire body feeling somewhat numb.

In what seemed like no time at all, a sky-car landed in front of her, and her Master rushed out from the driver's seat with a medical kit. He was tall, and thickly muscled, with a stern expression that intimidated most people. Though Biavalia knew better than to be afraid of him. He put on the strong, silent act because he wasn’t especially great at talking with people. She had belonged to him since he was very young. She had served and obeyed him as he grew into a man, and found him to be among the rare few to be uncorrupted by having power over another. In fact, were it not for the trauma he experienced a few years ago, he would likely still be practicing as one of the rare human experts in the field of asari genetics.

He was on a dark path for a while, that’s how the thoughtful human doctor and his devoted asari servant came to be known by their current titles as the Slave Trainer King and the Queen of Whores.

“Are you okay?” He finally asked after spending a few minutes examining her and treating her injuries as best he could.

“I feel fine now, my King.” she replied with a gentle smile. The tension in his brow made her think that he needed comfort more than she did. He took her hand and led her to the car, making sure to stay close by. It was only once they took off that he asked about her mission.

“So, what happened?

“Well, other than the murder attempts, I had a pretty magical evening.” she replied playfully.

“Beebee.” he said in a lightly chastising tone.

“I’m serious. Morinth is…. amazing. More sophisticated than I would have thought. Pale skin, sexy, mischievous smile.” she was almost gushing like a girl with a crush, “Her aura, though. It’s almost overwhelming, she has this energy about her that’s fierce, animalistic. She’s like….” she paused to think, “what was that Earth animal that humans sometimes say my stripes look like?”

“A tiger, I think.” he replied

“Yes, like that. She’s powerful and deadly, but there’s a beauty, a nobility behind it. Even though I knew she saw me as prey, it still felt like an honor to watch her hunt.” she stared out the window, watching the buildings whiz by as she thought in awe about the Ardat-Yakshi.

“But she won’t join us?” he asked flatly.

Her brow furrowed in thought, “I don’t know. She panicked. I never got a chance to ask her.”

“Disappointing. I was hoping when we found her that we’d at least get an answer. Our competitors are getting bolder in trying to eliminate us. You’ve become a formidable fighter, but that won’t keep us alive forever. Morinth would be a serious deterrent to our enemies; hell, she could help us just enslave our enemies.” he said.

“I’m proud to be your knight, my King. My fighting skills would be useless without your tactics. But I agree… an alliance with Morinth would have a much better chance of keeping us alive. Especially now that the other slavers are beginning to cooperate to destroy us.” her formerly playful tone turning serious.

There was silence for several seconds before he spoke, “It seems like we should give serious thought to the Andromeda option. I mean, I don’t want to leave everything behind, but… if that’s our only way out.”

“I will obey any command you give, my King, but in my opinion, I think it’s worth one more try with Morinth.”

“She already tried to kill you twice!” he shot back. Taking a deep breath, he continued more quietly, “We take too many risks as it is. But I suppose doing nothing is the bigger risk…. Could we even find her again? Did you learn anything that would help us track her down?”

Beebee’s eyes lowered, “No, when we melded, it was just- Wait!!” she suddenly perked up. Her mind began to race. “I didn’t notice it at the time through all the blinding pain, but I think I did catch some visions of her mind.”

She sat tensely, her eyes darting back and forth as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing in her head. “Normandy! Wait, that can’t be…”

“What is it?” he asked, his eyes shifting back and forth between where he was driving and the asari slave.

“I… she had an artifact that didn’t make sense to me. Unless… I see her on the Normandy. She… was part of the crew?” Beebee held her head as she tried to piece it together.

“Are you saying that she was working with her mother?? With Samara?” he asked.

“No, she was Samara! At least, that’s what everyone thought. She killed her and took her place on the Normandy.”

“Pureblood asari can sometimes look almost identical to their mothers.” he commented, “So we know that she snuck onto a famous ship. But how does this help us find her.” he said with hectic curiosity.

“There was another woman there when she killed Samara…someone helped her.” her voice turned to an unbelieving whisper, “no… it couldn’t be… could it?” she thought aloud to herself.

“Someone saved her from her mother? Morinth has a friend? Someone who could help us find her?? Someone who could keep you safe while you talk to her?” he asked wide-eyed.

Beebee stared in stunned silence as she searched through the memories she gleaned from joining minds with Morinth, still not able to fully believe what she saw.

“Commander Shepard.”

He stared over at her, jaw dropped from surprise. His eyes turned back to the path ahead of him just in time to swerve to avoid a car in the nearby lane.

He began slowly, working out the unbelievable story in his own head, “So Commander Shepard, the woman who saved the Citadel; she helped Morinth kill an asari Justicar to gain her loyalty, and then she tricked everyone to hide the fact that she had recruited an Ardat-Yakshi to her team. Is that what you’re telling me, Beebee?”

“Yes, my King. That is what I see in Morinth’s memories.” she replied.

“By the goddess… It’s not as though we aren’t trying to do the same thing, but I don’t think I could kill an innocent person just to impress her.” he said

“Justicar Samara was trying to kill her. So one could argue that Commander Shepard was just trying to help Morinth defend herself.” Beebee said.

“I suppose. Something about it still seems unscrupulous, though.” he said, his eyes narrowed into a contemplative squint. “I don’t know that we can trust Shepard enough to ask her to relay a message for us, assuming we could even get in contact with her.” Beebee could see the his mind working as he formulated a plan, “Ideally, we would get her to come to us for help in finding Morinth. If we forged a distress message from Morinth, Shepard would come running to help her former crewman. If we include the right details, we can lead Shepard to us.” He contemplated a few moments longer before asking, “Are you still on good terms with Matriarch Aethyta?”

“As long as she’s still a sucker for a great pair of tits!” she said as she grabbed her breasts playfully.

“Okay…. We can give this one more shot.”


	2. Chapter 2

Screaming, the rapid popping sound of assault rifles and the heavier boom of shotguns. Her red-hair covered in sweat as she listened to the cacophony of horrors all around her. A feeling of helplessness, knowing that she couldn’t save them. Her parents, her friends, dying all around her. The girl’s heart screamed at her that it was unfair. It was unfair for her to have to experience all this, but be too weak to stop it.

She awoke with a gasp. It wasn’t the first time she’d had this nightmare, or even the hundredth. Ever since her colony on Mindoir was raided by Batarian slavers all those years ago, she couldn’t fully put that day behind her. In a way she was grateful for the nightmare. It reminded her of why she became who she is. She became a soldier, eventually rising to the highest tier of the special forces of humanity’s military. In time she was honored with the title of Spectre, the first human to earn a place in the most elite branch of galactic Special Ops. Her strength and resources ensured that she’d never experience that feeling of helplessness again. From now on, she was going to help everyone she could. And those who even thought about hurting her friends had better think twice.

“Damn it.” she said quietly to herself as she walked to the bathroom. She’d been relieved of duty after her last mission necessitated aligning herself with a terrorist group to get the job done. Had she been anyone else, she’d have been lucky to be court-martialed and dishonorably discharged. But for Commander Shepard, hero of the Citadel, her crimes merely warranted a slap on the wrist and some forced down time.

She hated down time. It made her restless; gave her too much time to think. She didn’t feel like herself without a mission to occupy her mind.

The slender-bodied marine splashed some cold water on her face and returned to sit on the bed. She opened the computer terminal she’d set on the nightstand and looked through her messages. A few messages about news stories featuring her, ‘thank you’ letters from people she’d helped or saved. She smiled as she saw a message from Liara; no doubt another bit of sappy Prothean poetry that Liara would tell her reminded her of Shepard. Beneath that was a spam e-mail promising to enhance her sex-life. But then… 

> Sender: Morinth
> 
> Subject: HELP ME! 

Morinth was always so cautious, paranoid even. It was highly unusual for her to send a transmission under her own name. She opened the message.

> Shepard, I need help! I’m _[MESSAGE CORRUPTED]_ have much time. I’ve been kidnapped by slavers. They want _[MESSAGE CORRUPTED]_ don’t think I can do it without _[MESSAGE CORRUPTED]_ near Illium. I don’t know where I am now, you’re the only one I trust _[MESSAGE CORRUPTED]_ helped me eliminate my mother on Omega and I hope you can help me again. I’m desperate!

Her mind reeled. She wondered who would even have the power to kidnap Morinth. _Could some slave-trader have picked her up by accident?_ She thought, _No, she wouldn’t have let that happen. They had to know she was an Ardat-Yakshi, they had to have found some way to overcome her power._

Shepard felt a twinge of frustration at being relieved of duty. She’d need a ship for this mission. Her mind went down the list of close friends and allies. There were a handful who could get her a ship, but if she wanted to find Morinth, she’d need to gather intel. If she was abducted near Illium, that means that whoever took her was probably operating in the Terminus Systems outside of Citadel space. She’d need someone who could infiltrate the outlaws. She composed a new message:

> Jack,
> 
> I need a favor. One of our old crew is in trouble. I need a ship and someone who knows the lay of the land out past Illium. Get back to me ASAP.
> 
> Shepard

She got dressed and made a quick trip to the nearest Alliance office to make a request for official leave. As far as the brass was concerned, she was taking a trip to visit an old friend; which was not technically that far from the truth.

When she returned to her apartment, she was relieved to find a message from Jack waiting for her.

> Shit, don’t you have anything better to do than save the ass of anyone who’s spoken to you for more than five minutes? I swear, it’s like you think your tits are gonna fall off if you don’t come to the rescue of some sorry asshole at least once a week. Anyway, I still owe you one for helping me put all that Pragia bullshit behind me. And I don’t like owing favors, so give me a day and I’ll get us a ship and meet you at Dark Star Lounge on the Citadel. After this mission, we’re square. Got it?

Shepard was glad to know that Jack was willing to help. She felt a bit of joy at the prospect of going on another mission with her. There wasn’t anyone quite like Jack; and Shepard had always been fascinated by her. Her life had mirrored her own in a way; a traumatic childhood giving way to an adulthood centered around always being tougher, smarter, and better than the enemy. But while Shepard devoted herself the the military, Jack had no such option. It’s no wonder she fell into a life of crime.

Still, after the nightmare Jack suffered as a child, Shepard couldn’t blame her for her bad decisions. In fact, her feelings for the woman extended beyond respect or even friendship. She’d wanted them to be there for each other as lovers, but Jack rebuffed her advances before she could even ask. None of that mattered now, though. The mission comes first, and Jack is the right choice for this. She’s streetwise and probably the most powerful human biotic alive.

She shook the thoughts from her head and considered how best to use the time she had while she waited for a ship. Opening the message from Liara, she briefly scanned the content. As expected, it was a few verses of Prothean poetry, accompanied by multiple paragraphs from Liara explaining the context and cultural significance. Sharing her passion was the asari archaeologist's way of saying “I love you.” She and Shepard had been dancing around the idea of a serious relationship for a while now; and deep down Shepard hoped to someday retire and spend the rest of her life with Liara.

On top of being among the foremost experts on Prothean archeology and Commander Shepard’s former lover, Liara T’soni had recently acquired yet another position of high regard; having secretly taken on the mantle of the galaxy’s most renowned information broker.

Fully prepared to utilize any resource at her disposal in pursuit of her mission, she responded to the message by explaining the situation with Morinth. She forwarded the message and asked if Liara would be able to find out anything about who might have captured her or where the message may have originated.

She then headed to the nearest gym for a few hours of PT. Putting in some miles on the track always helped her gather her thoughts. She followed this up with a solid hour at the shooting range. This had become a part of her daily routine; the last thing she wanted was to get rusty.

Upon returning home, she checked her messages once again to find a response from Liara.

Her stern face showed little expression, but inwardly she smiled, _Nobody likes to keep Commander Shepard waiting,_ she thought, slightly amused by the somewhat uncomfortable notion that she was now a celebrity of sorts.

> Shepard,
> 
> I’ve looked into the matter you asked me to investigate. I’ve been unable to find any leads on Morinth’s location, but I did discover something important. I traced the origin of the message through the relay system to its origin. It did come from an area in the Terminus Systems where batarian slavers are known to operate. But the version of the message you received was exactly the version sent. The corrupted parts were there from the start. If I had to guess, I would say that someone sent this message to try to lure you to Illium. I will continue my investigation and forward you anything else I uncover. Please be careful, Shepard. I suspect that whoever sent this message is expecting you to come looking for them.
> 
> Liara 

Her blood ran cold as she read the message. Batarian slavers… she’d learned long ago to never underestimate the depths they’ll sink to. She pondered for a brief moment if the entire message could be a trick. _No,_ she thought, _Morinth mentioned that I helped eliminate her mother on Omega. The only people who could know about that were the people in that room. Even if someone did learn that Morinth killed Samara, there’s no way they could know I had anything to do with it. It’s not as though she would ever tell anyone. Someone has Morinth, and they’re using her as bait to get to me._

While she cared deeply for Liara, her warning to be careful fell on deaf ears. Commander Shepard had spent her entire life running _toward_ danger, and this mission would be no exception. Still, there was something that didn’t quite add up. This whole thing seems like it was planned by someone precise, this felt too calculated for the average slaver.

Shepard spent the rest of the day researching; reviewing vids, news stories, and whatever privileged Alliance intel her rank and position could allow her to get her hands on. Slavers were usually pretty skilled at discretion, but details came to light every now and then. She eventually fell asleep while researching reports of salarian slavers. There weren’t many of them, but their ability to outthink their competitors usually meant that they were especially successful and rarely caught.

* * *

She awoke the next morning at 0500. After her morning ablutions, she began a quick thirty minute session of PT in her apartment, consisting mostly of calisthenics and martial arts drills. After showering, dressing, and packing a footlocker full of clothes and gear, she headed out to catch a ride on an Alliance Transport heading to the Citadel.

A few hours later, she made her way to the Dark Star Lounge where she found Jack sitting at the bar with a drink in hand. She wore knee-high boots over a loose fitting pair of canvas pants, patterned with black and grey digital camo. As usual, she “dressed” with daring immodesty above the waist; wearing nothing but a small, studded leather jacket that left her small breasts fully exposed. Though, as heavily tattooed as Jack was, no amount of skin showing would make her actually look naked. In fact, other than her face and some patches of her shaved scalp, her skin was inked from head to toe.

Shepard sat down next to the slightly tipsy young outlaw. “Hey, Shepard. Come have a drink with me.” she said, slurring her words slightly.

“Thanks for coming, Jack.” she said as she gestured to the bartender that she’d like a round for the two of them.

“What can I say, I’m always up for a good fight. And besides, you’d probably get yourself killed without me around to save your ass.” Jack said.

“Is that so?” Shepard said, crossing her arms and cocking her head to one side with a playful smile, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d almost think you cared about me.”

“Fuck, Shepard, are you really gonna make me say it?” Jack said, “Fine, I haven’t got a lot of friends, and you’re one of the few non-shitty people in this galaxy. So if you need me to have your back, than fine, I got your back.” she finished her drink and slammed the empty glass on the bar, “So whose ass needs kickin’ this time?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out. I received a distress call from a former crew member, an Ardat-Yakshi. I think she may have been abducted by slavers. The only lead I have is that she might have been taken near Illium, but there’s a good chance that whoever took her knows that we’re coming.” Shepard explained.

“So you’re tellin’ me that somewhere out there is a slaver with a god-damned living mind-control weapon?? Wait a second, you had an Ardat-Yakshi on your crew?”

“On our crew, actually.”

“Wait, Samara?? I knew there was a reason that bitch gave me the creeps!”

“It was only Samara in the beginning.” Shepard explained, “She asked for my help in killing her daughter, Morinth. I agreed to help her, but when the fighting started, they were evenly matched. It was up to me to make a decision, and I chose the one who was best suited to help us stop the Collectors. Morinth posed as her mother for the rest of the mission. She’s the Ardat-Yakshi; she’s the one we need to save.”

“Damn, Shepard!” Jack said with an approving smile, “That’s cold-blooded. Didn’t think you had it in you.”

Shepard said nothing, not wanting to encourage praise for her ethically dubious decision.

“Fuck, what are we sittin’ around here for?” With that Jack stood and walked briskly, though a bit unsteadily, toward the nearest Rapid-Transit. Shepard finished her drink and followed close behind.

At the docking bay, Jack led them to a small, rather rickety looking salarian cargo ship. “Doesn’t have all the bells and whistles you’re used to, but she’ll get you where you need to go. Even comes with ‘er own pilot.” Jack said as they entered, indicating to the cockpit where a exuberant looking salarian man stood and approached them.

“Commander Shepard! It’s an honor to have you on board my humble little cargo ship. Had I known that Jack was really serious about picking up someone of your esteem, I would have cleaned up better. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Melok, I hope I prove to be an adequate pilot for your mission, Commander!”

Shepard looked around at what appeared to be a reasonably, though not immaculately, maintained ship and replied, “Don’t worry about me, I’m just a soldier. I don’t need anything special. If you don’t mind me asking, how did you and Jack end up together?”

Jack interjected, “Hey, we don’t need to-”

“Oh, Jack is a very good friend.” Melok began, “You see, I was being forced to smuggle illegal cargo for Blood Pack mercenaries; drugs, weapons, things of that nature. They kidnapped my sister, said that they’d hurt her if I didn’t do what they wanted. Jack found out, she stopped them, rescued my sister, and made sure that they’d never bother me or my family ever again. I owe her a great debt, and I am honored to be able to repay her kindness.”

Shepard turned to look at a rather uncomfortable looking Jack.

“Hey, don’t go thinkin’ I’ve turned girl-scout like you. I just saw some people who needed to be taught a lesson and I happened to be in a teaching mood. I’m not gonna make a habit of it.”

“Hey, I’m not judging.” Shepard replied with a slightly cheeky tone. Turning back to Melok, “So we need to get to Illium, can you take us there?”

“Of course.” Melok said as he returned to the pilot seat, “Just make yourselves comfortable and I will let you know when we’ve arrived! Apologies for the lack of accommodations, this ship is not designed for carrying passengers, I’m afraid.”

“We’ll make do. I really appreciate you doing this, Melok.” Shepard said before carrying her footlocker toward the aft of the ship. It was a large room, mostly empty except for a few crates and a port-side medical station. Jack headed toward a maintenance ladder on the forward starboard wall that seemed to lead to the lower level.

“You can bunk up here, I’ll be down in engineering.” Jack said as she descended. Shepard nodded in response; her face didn’t show it, but she was slightly disappointed that Jack was choosing to isolate herself. She wasn’t surprised, though. She always was something of a lone wolf.

Shepard sat on her footlocker in the mostly bare room. She wished she’d thought to bring a book. She wasn’t accustomed to having so little to do. Still, she was relieved to at least be headed somewhere.

The soldier’s thoughts turned to Morinth. Shepard’s research hadn’t turned up anything especially useful. Most slavers were batarian, given that a belief in slavery was part of their cultural identity. Though members of nearly every race participated in the slave trade now and then. Her thoughts slowly began to suspect that Morinth’s abductors may have been asari themselves. They would be most capable of subduing an Ardat-Yakshi, and something about the whole tactic just seemed on brand for the asari.

She decided that she wanted Jack’s perspective on this. She walked over to the maintenance shaft and called down, “I’m coming down, hope you’re decent.”

A moment later a voice replied, “You can hope all you want, but it still ain’t gonna happen.”

Shepard descended the ladder, and the first thing she noticed was the moderate din of humming, buzzing, and the occasional clunk and thud of the machinery; the second thing she notices was the heat in the dimly lit engineering section. Apparently, the thermal emissions from the engines were not vented quite as efficiently as a military vessel, in fact it bordered on sweltering. The lower deck mostly consisted of mechanics and machinery, with an “I” shaped walkway going through the center, just barely wide enough for one person to walk through. Jack appeared to have set up a cot at the rear section where she now sat fully naked, covered in a thin layer of glistening perspiration.

“Whadya need?” she asked, seemingly indifferent to her nudity.

“I wanted to get your take on what we’re dealing with. I’ve been going through all the intel I can find and so far I can’t do much better than theories.”

Shepard was briefly distracted by the nude form of the heavily inked girl before her, _So she does shave everything. I always wondered._

After mentally admonishing herself for her inappropriate thoughts, she explained,

“So is there anything you can tell me about how someone might kidnap an Ardat-Yakshi or who might want to do it?” Shepard asked.

Jack laid back down on the small cot and spent a few moments contemplating. “Omega-Enkaphalin might do it. It’s a drug that reduces biotic strength for a while. Cerberus developed it and tested it on me to figure out how to develop a resistance.”

“Would anyone else have access to it?”

“Probably not, but it’s tough to say.” Jack replied.

Shepard really hoped that she wouldn’t have to deal with Cerberus again, “I don’t know. If Cerberus wanted Morinth and me, they could have made a move while we were on the Normandy. What do they get by waiting until now?”

“Who knows? I figured out a long time ago not to wonder what anyone from Cerberus is thinking. If they cross my path, I’ll tear ‘em apart. No questions asked.” Her fingers formed into a fist as she spoke, with sadistic delight, about the prospect of killing.

Shepard decided to share her own thoughts with Jack, “I was thinking it could be asari slavers. They’d have the knowledge to deal with Morinth.”

“Shit, I wouldn’t put it past them. That’s the worst thing about the asari, everyone loves them. They can convince you that they’re all sweet and peace-lovin’, and you’ll believe ‘em right up until they stab you in the back.”

_True enough,_ Shepard thought. Even Liara, who at first seemed to be an awkward, soft-spoken scientist, turned out to have a shockingly merciless aptitude for killing. She’d even overheard her threatening to flay someone alive just a few months back. Despite their reputation for diplomacy, the asari didn’t become the most powerful race in the galaxy because they lacked ambition.

“Thanks for talking with me” Shepard eventually said, “I should go.”

“Yup.”

She walked over to the ladder and began to climb “And Jack, I’d like to see you a bit more ‘in-uniform’ from now on.”

“Well I’d like to see you kiss my ass, Commander.”

_I’d like to see that myself, actually._ Shepard thought. For the briefest moment, she considered speaking the thought aloud, but then remembered Jack’s prior rejection and decided against it.

Upon returning to the upper deck, Melok announced that they would be arriving at Nos Astra port on Illium in just a few minutes. As he dropped out of Faster-Than-Light drive, the ship jerked violently, causing the Commander to lose her balance and slam into the bulkhead. She regained her balance and held onto one of the nearby crates to steady herself. The ship seemed to be vibrating and rattling now that it was out of FTL.

“Apologies, Commander! That happens sometimes. I try to give her a tune-up now and then, but there’s only so much I can do without a full-time engineer.”

“Just keep us in one piece!” she called over the sound of the rattling. Shepard had spent most of her career onboard expertly designed military vessels with top-rate engineers. A part of her was glad to have the chance to experience the rickety old cargo ship. It made her feel grounded, reminded her of where she came from and of the type of people she fights for. Still, it’d be a shame if the mission was compromised due to mechanical delays. She made a mental note to herself to keep her eyes and ears open for anything that might be able to improve Melok’s ship.

The rattling came to a slow stop, at which point Melok announced that they’d docked at Nos Astra. A moment later Jack emerged from the lower deck once again fully clothed, or as close as Jack seemed to ever get to “fully clothed.”

Melok wished them luck as they exited the ship. Shepard exchanged pleasantries with the Concierge who came to welcome her back to Nos Astra, but quickly moved on to the rest of the affluent and neatly maintained port city.

“So who are we talkin’ to first, Commander?”

“Detective Anaya was there when I first met Morinth’s mother. If she was still posing as Samara when she came through here, Anaya would probably have noticed.”

“And even if she wasn’t in disguise, the cop probably would have noticed someone who looks like her old Justicar friend.” Jack replied.

They made their way to the police station, where Anaya greeted her cordially.

“Shepard, nice to have you back. What can I do for you?”

“I’m looking for an asari who may have been captured by slavers either on Illium or nearby. She’s the daughter of Justicar Samara, so there’s a strong family resemblance. Can you think of anything that might help us track her down?”

“As you know, indentured servitude is legal on Illium, but that always involves a contract and strict oversight to ensure that no one is being mistreated or abused. We don’t have groups of slavers just snatching people up.” Detective Anaya explained before her tone shifted to a more cautious one, “That being said, we do end up investigating a lot of missing persons reports, and unfortunately a lot of them go unsolved.”

“So I’ve heard. Can you think of anyone who might know anything about these disappearances, or anyone with connections to criminal groups I might be able to talk to?”

“I’m sorry, Commander; if I heard anything about people who’d broken the law, I’d have arrested them myself. I really wish I could be of more help.”

Shepard paused to think for a moment, if she wanted to find Morinth, she really should tell her everything. “One last question, have you heard anything that would lead you to think that an Ardat-Yakshi had come through here?”

The detective’s eyes widened for a moment, “No, is that something I should be worried about?” She seemed slightly alarmed at the mention of the word.

“No, she’s clearly off-world by now. Just let me know if you hear anything that might be helpful.”

“Of course. And Commander? From what I’ve seen it looks like you know what you’re doing, but still, if your mission involves an Ardat-Yakshi, I’d advise you to be very careful." 

Shepard and Jack proceeded to talk to other law enforcement officials around the city, along with business owners, and even a few of the better known mercenaries. The conversations were becoming repetitive. No one knew anything, or if they did, they weren’t talking.

Shepard was beginning to get discouraged when Jack made a suggestion, “Hey, what about that bartender? She seemed like she knew her shit, I bet nothing around here gets past her.”

She kicked herself for not thinking of it sooner; the bartender was an asari matriarch, almost a thousand years old. If anyone had the information she needed, or knew someone who did, it would be her.

They made their way to the bar where Matriarch Aethyta recognized her right away, “Hey Shepard, it’s been a while. What can I get ya?”

“Actually I’m looking for someone. An Ardat-Yakshi who may have been kidnapped by slavers around here."

“Right to the point, huh? I like that. Afraid I don’t know anything about an Ardat-Yakshi, but I can point you in the direction of some people who might be able to help you out. There’s this human slaver who splits his time between here and the Terminus Systems. Tall fella’, they call him the Slave Trainer King. He’s got this asari gal who’s always with him. Smart young thing, greatest pair a tits you’ve ever seen. And she can kick-ass better than most commandos.”

Shepard could see why most asari didn’t want Aethyta back on the homeworld, giving out sage wisdom like with a healthy dose of attitude; but personally, she was charmed by the free-spirited demeanor of the old woman.

“You think they’ll be able to help us?”

“They know all the major players in the slave-trading game. And kidnapping an Ardat-Yakshi is big-time. Hell, from what I hear, half the slavers in the Terminus system want them dead, so whoever did it will probably come gunning for them sooner or later. Seems like they’d be extra motivated to help you.”

“I’m not in the habit of working with slavers.” Shepard replied, “Do you really think I can trust them?”

“Look, these two aren’t your typical slavers. They’re independent contractors for IndentureTech, but most of what they do here is charity work." 

“Charity work?” Shepard asked skeptically.

“Yeah, they do what they can to make life easier for the indentured servants around here who are having a hard time. The two of them have a pretty high standard for who deserves to be a slave, and who deserves to own one. Not many slavers can come to Illium and claim moral superiority, but the way they talk about what they do makes them seem almost like missionaries.”

“Tell me more about this ‘standard’ they have for who deserves to be a slave.” Shepard inquired, her tone hinting at a hostility toward the concept.

“Well, the type of people that you might think deserve a bullet in the head they’d think need a collar and a hard attitude adjustment.”

“Exactly how is this ‘attitude adjustment’ performed?”

“You should probably ask them that yourself.” Aethyta replied, “They normally work out of an office in the IndentureTech building. You can find them there for the next few hours at least.” 

Shepard reached across the bar to shake Matriarch Aethyta’s hand firmly, “Thanks for your help.”

* * * 

After a short cab-ride, they arrived at the IndentureTech office. They entered a large, opulently decorated lobby with an impressive fountain in the middle of the tile floor. Live fish appeared to be swimming in the water. Shepard and Jack walked past it to the receptionist. 

“Welcome to IndentureTech! How can I help you today?” the smartly dressed young asari said.

“I’m looking for someone called the slave-trainer king. Do you know where I can find him?”

The receptionist looked Jack up and down like she was a defective product that needed servicing before returning her gaze to Shepard, “Of course! You can find him down that corridor on your left. I’m sure he’ll be able to help you. IndentureTech employs the most skilled workers to help with… problem servants.” Her eyes once again turned to Jack as she spoke the last two words.

“Hey! You better watch your fuckin’ attitude unless you want-”

“Jack!” Shepard grabbed the tattoo-clad biotic firmly by the shoulder. 

She calmed down, but still glared threateningly at the receptionist as they made their way down the hall.

Finally, they made their way to a room on the left whose door appeared to be left open. It was a relatively small office that appeared to be intended as a waiting room. There was a small coffee table in the middle of the floor with couches lining most of the walls. Sitting opposite the door was a large man lounging with a nearly naked asari sitting on the floor at his feet.

Shepard sized them up immediately, _Human, about six foot six, heavily muscled, professionally groomed and dressed. He looks tough on the outside, but something in his eyes tells me that he’s not much of a fighter._ Her mind turned to assess the blue woman sitting beneath him. _Asari, about five foot ten, athletic build and wow Aethyta was not kidding about those tits. She acts passive and demure, but she’s actually the more dangerous one._

“Commander Shepard.” the man said in a calm, deep voice, “I’ve been expecting you.”

  
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about taking so long with the set-up, but there's actually some sexy-times happening in this chapter, with lots more to come soon!

They’d sent the message, set the bait. They made sure that they would be on Illium when Commander Shepard came looking for Morinth. Beebee hoped that they hadn’t made themselves too difficult to find. They were well known in the city of Nos Astra, sure; but only a handful of people knew that when they weren’t there, they were capturing and selling slaves in the Terminus Systems.

Matriarch Aethyta was one of the few who knew. Beebee always had good rapport with Aethyta; neither of them truly fit in with the asari. The ancient woman took a liking to her as soon as she learned that she wore the title “Queen of Whores” with pride. She always valued straight-talk; it’s not that asari prostitutes were rare, but most put on airs, calling themselves ‘escort’ ‘consort’ ‘intimacy surrogate.’ Few even admitted to prostitution, and fewer still would openly admit to being a whore.

The asari were intuitive, vanity rarely played a part in who they loved. Most of those in Beebee’s line of work emphasized their talents as therapists, conversationalists, masseuses; they claimed that they had a knack for determining exactly what the people who came to them needed, and usually their claims were true. It’s not that Beebee didn’t do those things; in fact her intuition was exceptional, it’s just that she advertised differently. She would fulfill one's greatest and most perverse sexual fantasies and do them with more skill and eagerness than one would think was possible. The listening, the compassion, guidance, those were afterthoughts.

They knew that Aethyta would lead Shepard to them. They hypothesized that when she was told that a competing slaver had kidnapped an Ardat-Yakshi, her first thought would be concern for Beebee and her Master. She was one of the few in whom Beebee had confided the troubles and threats they’d experienced from their competition. She hoped Aethyta wouldn’t suspect them as being culpable in the plot, but Aethyta’s affection for her meant that she’d likely have a blind spot when it came to her and her Master.

They’d spent the day volunteering their time and services to the slaves of Illium. ‘Indentured Servants,’ they called them. Some had their owners bring them in for behavioral issues; Beebee helped with that. Others had hidden medical issues they’d prefer not to be known by their owners. Her Master helped them.

They heard a bit of commotion down the hall in the lobby. Was someone cursing at the receptionist? The sound of purposeful footsteps moved toward them. She could tell who it was before she reached the doorway. A soldiers marching gait, rapid without anxiety, strong yet agile.

She was kneeling on the floor, she tapped her Master on the thigh and smiled up at him to let him know that the Commander was about to arrive. He had a tendency to get lost in his own thoughts when the outside world didn’t require his immediate attention.

Her form appeared in the doorway, Biavalia was awestruck. While this human woman was no doubt attractive, it was the things she sensed within that took her breath away. As the pair of emerald eyes met hers, she felt like she’d been shot in the heart by the mere intensity of her gaze. She had hair colored like human blood, evocative of the violence that left a stain on her soul. Though she didn’t know it herself, her body language shouted authority. Yet for all her harshness, Beebee sensed an equal measure of compassion. The horrors that haunted her life hadn’t hardened her, in fact she had a softness about her that the asari girl had never seen in so decorated a soldier.

She turned her attention to the companion that followed the Commander into the room. What she saw in this girl almost made her gasp aloud. Pain, sadness, fear. Sure the wrapping was a menacing woman displaying skin emblazoned with intimidating symbols, but beneath that was a vulnerable little girl. Beebee had to fight the urge to leap to her feet and throw her arms around this poor girl. More than anything, she wanted to hold her and tell her it was going to be okay.

“Commander Shepard. I’ve been expecting you.”

Her Master’s words focused her mind.

“Please, have a seat.” he beckoned to a seat near the entrance.

“Thanks, but I think I’ll stand.” Shepard replied with defensive curiousity.

“I pay good money to ensure that I know about any threats to my well-being in advance. When an associate of mine intercepted a message claiming to be from a friend of yours who had been kidnapped, I thought I should look into it. Something didn’t add up. I wondered if someone was trying to draw you out to capture you and sell you off, or else control you to make you take out their competition. I started making inquiries into who had allegedly sent the message. I couldn’t find any connection between you and this… Morinth. But then I found out that you worked with a Justicar who had been pursuing someone nearby. It took some doing, but I finally managed to locate some family records for Justicar Samara. It turns out she had three daughters. Two are currently in an Ardat-Yakshi monastery.” He paused, his voice getting quieter, “Morinth is the third, isn’t she. She’s the one Samara was hunting.”

He had practiced the speech over and over again with Beebee. He wasn’t good at lying improvisationally, and he figured that the more they claimed to know right away, the less likely it was that they’d accidentally slip and reveal something they had no way of knowing. Such a “slip” is what got Beebee thrown from a window a few days before, and he hated making the same mistake twice.

“Looks like that money is well spent. Yes, there is a slaver holding an Ardat-Yakshi, and it does seem like whoever it is is after me as well” Shepard said, “I need to know who might have the means to capture an Ardat-Yakshi, and what their larger plan might be. I was told that you might be able to lead me to some answers.”

“How do you know that she was even really captured? It could just be an attempt to get to you.”

“I know it was her writing the message. She mentioned something that no one else could know.”

“I see.” he said, his eyes narrowing in thought, “Well that is concerning. I had hoped that one of the other slavers wasn’t really preparing to unleash an Ardat-Yakshi against us, but if it’s true, I suppose that gives me motivation to help you.”

While Beebee’s outward expression was unchanging, she was inwardly beaming with pride in her Master. He was normally so hesitant to engage in deception himself, preferring to let her do the talking when the occasion called for a performance.

“I’d like to help you find her,” he continued, “The problem is that I’m not sure I can trust you.”

Jack stepped forward and thrust an accusing finger toward the man, “ _You_ aren’t sure you can trust _us?_ We’re not the slavers here!”

“You’re… Jack, right? I read about you, though I couldn’t find much other than arrest warrants. Most people seem to think you’re a violent psychopath. As for the Commander, she was most recently working for Cerberus, a terrorist organization whose ideology centers on human supremacy. For all I know, you’re still working for Cerberus. Maybe Morinth evaded your attempt to capture her and the people you work for think that Beebee here is the next best thing.”

 _Good,_ Beebee thought, _If he agrees to help them too easily it’ll make them suspicious. Make her think that bringing me along was her own idea._

“Wait, how is she ‘the next best thing’ to an Ardat-Yakshi?” Shepard asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

 _That’s my cue!_ “I’ve been trained as a slave since birth, Commander.” the sapphire-skinned woman began, “To us, the roles of Master or slave are sacred duties that lead to peace and harmony when done correctly.” She explained as she stood up, “My sense of inner harmony and devotion to the pleasure of others is something that has taken a lifetime to refine. As an asari, I am able to share my mind with others; It’s difficult to explain exactly what I do, but essentially I take the essence of my slavery, my ‘slave’s heart’ if you will, and make a copy of it in the mind of another. They receive the benefits of being a well-trained slave without having to go through the long journey of the mind, body, and spirit.”

“That’s a load of crap.” Shepard shot back, “You talk about it like it’s an act of charity, but you’re just turning people into playthings for whoever can afford it!”

“Forgive me, Commander. I must have failed to explain the nuance of what we do. We do not choose slaves arbitrarily, nor do we sell them to masters unable to honor the responsibility of leading. We hold to a standard of only training those who would be better off as slaves.”

“And what gives you the right to decide that someone should be a slave? It sounds like you’re just a couple of zealots forcing other people into your way of life.” Shepard accused.

“With all due respect, Commander, what gives you the right to decide who should die? Both of us come across people who are broken, murderous, sadistic. We both agree that some people reach a point where their lives can not be allowed to continue along the path they’ve chosen. You grant those people death; I would grant them a life of purpose and serenity in the service of others.”

Shepard said nothing, she merely cocked her head as though examining the sincerity of Beebee’s convictions.

It was then that she noticed a pair of women standing timidly just beyond the threshold of the small office. “Perhaps a demonstration will help you understand!” Beebee exclaimed with a smile as she beckoned duo forward.

An asari stepped into the room with a timid looking quarian girl close behind. Most wouldn’t be able to notice, but Beebee had immersed herself in the minds of so many cultures that she could tell just by looking that the quarian was young. The style and sophistication of her form-fitting environmental suit looked slightly childish. In all likelihood, she was still on her pilgrimage before returning to the Migrant Fleet on which her people lived since they lost their homeworld three centuries prior.

Beebee addressed the asari warmly, “My name is Biavalia Bi’tarah. We are honored by your visit, what can we help you with?”

The asari looked curiously around the room for a brief moment, but then replied, “My name is Saneya. I own a salvage yard, mostly old ship components, but I do sometimes come across the remains of complete vessels. They’re normally old and broken, so I used to just sell them for parts, but a few months ago, my quarian companion here made me an offer. She volunteered herself for a two year indentured servitude contract to help repair the broken ships. It’s more profitable to sell a fully functional ship than a collection of half-working components. All she wanted in return was an old turian frigate that I haven’t even had luck selling for parts. It was apparently in service for almost sixty years and I’m told the engineer was some sort of mad genius. Every time the ship got damaged, he cobbled together some solution using parts from whatever star system happened to be nearby. It has technology from the volus, elcor, batarian, hanar, salarian, and some things that even I don’t recognize. It’s a marvel it was functional for as long as it was, but now nobody can figure out how it works. And every system was modified so much that they’re not even compatible with anything but each other.”

“It’s a great ship, though!” the quarian girl cut in, “It may be an enigma to most species, but my people have been living and working on ships like this our entire lives.”

Beebee’s eyes widened with delight as she empathized the girls enthusiasm, “You’re Pilgrimage gift to the flotilla is going to be a whole ship?? That’s amazing!”

The quarian bowed her head slightly in shame, had Beebee been able to see her face through the nearly opaque glass mask, she was sure her expression would be one of sorrow. “Well, I’m not so sure that’s going to happen anymore.” she explained, “I’ve been making a lot of mistakes lately. Costly mistakes. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, it’s like I can’t focus my mind. I keep thinking about the flotilla; this is the first time I’ve been away and… I don’t know, maybe I’m just homesick.”

Saneya cut in, “She’s a sweet girl, and a brilliant engineer, but quarians are expensive to house and feed. She needs purified, processed food, a constantly sterilized clean room. I want to help her, but I’m afraid that I don’t make enough profit to afford to cover for her absent-mindedness.”

Beebee glanced over at Shepard and Jack, who were scrutinizing the scene in front of them. She felt lucky that these two were the ones they’d get to see. It would be hard for either of them to make a moral objection to what was going on. A young girl had voluntarily chosen servitude to pay for a gift she could bring home to her people. It was a fair agreement, and Saneya seemed like a compassionate master.

Returning her gaze to the asari and quarian, “I can help you.” She took the quarians gloved hand and looked into the little glimmer of white eyes barely visible behind the mask. “I’m going to immerse myself in your mind. We will explore together until we learn what is keeping you from serving Saneya in the way you’ve promised.”

She gave a quick little nod in response, “Okay, but I’m a little nervous. You won’t do anything to my mind, will you?”

“Nothing you don’t want. What I do is more like therapy, but faster. May I know your name?”

“Zona’Jaas nar Zaama, but you can call me Zona.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Zona.” she said, placing her hands on the girls shoulder and breathing deeply. “Embrace eternity.”

_Her eyes went black and so did the world for the two of them. They were suddenly alone together in an infinite void, though the sense of cold, indifference that made infinity so menacing was pointedly absent. Instead the blackness felt like a loving embrace._

_Beebee’s mind whispered, “Show me where you go when you get lost in here.”_

_Wisps of color appeared around them formed into the inside of a ship. Beebee watched as Zona worked alongside dozens of other quarians bustling about. Calibrating this, adjusting mixtures of that, re-routing and repairing. Typical daily life for a quarian. She looked around inside of the memories and daydreams until she caught sight of a young man who shone brighter than everyone else in her memories. “Who is that?” she asked._

_“Oh, that’s Naelo. He’s… a friend.”_

_“Zona, you don’t need to keep secrets from me. I can see your mind on my own, but I would prefer if you told me yourself.”_

_“Keelah! All right, he’s a boy that I’ve been in love with since I was little. I’ve never told him. I was always afraid of what he might say.”_

_“You can’t get him out of your mind. You still obsess over what may or may not happen between the two of you when you get back.”_

_“Yes.”_

_Beebee gently coaxed Zona to share more memories of this boy. She wanted to see their interactions. She slowly learned that he was brave, and clever, and kind. All things that Zona already knew. What she didn’t realize is that Naelo was in love with her, too._

_“What? How can you know?”_

_“Trust me, I’ve been around long enough to know love when I see it.”_

_“But this is bad. If I know he feels the same way, I’ll be even more distracted!”_

_“You were kind enough to share a part of yourself with me. It’s only fair that I return the favor.”_

_Beebee led the pair of them into her own mind. To her youth. The contrast in environments could not have been greater; where Zona's home was made of metal and wires and crowded corridors, Beebee’s was a green world of moderate climate and open spaces. They were in a garden with two other young blue-skinned girls, listening to an asari matriarch. Though she was unlike any matriarch Zona had ever seen. She wore no clothes and was adorned only with a collar. Despite this she had an incredible sense of peace and warmth to her._

_“My mother” Beebee explained, answering the question she felt growing in Zona’s mind. “She chose to become a slave before I was born. She was a xeno-anthropologist who came across a culture that believed that enlightenment could be gained through slavery. She taught me to let go of my ego, to let go of desire, she taught me mindfulness, acceptance. I learned that by allowing another to carry the burden of choice, I gained a sense of freedom that few people ever experience.”_

_Years of experiences flooded into Zona’s mind, decades of lessons and meditations, and the epiphanies that came with them. It seemed like so much, but in reality it was only a small portion of what it took to be a true slave. Zona didn’t need to devote her life to the absolute service of another; she merely needed to learn to devote herself fully to whatever task was assigned to her._

_A tiny fraction of a ‘slave heart’ formed within Zona. Beebee carefully guided its formation in her mind. Ensuring that it didn’t take hold too deeply. Zona needed to belong to herself, her new “master” would be whatever task she chose to set her mind to. Whether that was working to earn her ship, or strengthening her inevitable relationship with Naelo; whatever she chose to do from now on, she would do with a focus and devotion that would border on divine._

_Slowly the visions of Beebee’s home planet faded back to that peaceful void and after that the real world slowly came back into focus._

“That was amazing.” Zona said. “How long have we been here?”

“Only a few minutes.” Saneya replied, “How are you feeling?”

“I… I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like I spent years learning how to be at peace with myself. I feel like… I feel like whatever I choose to do will be the most important thing in the universe for me, and the thing I want to be doing more than anything.”

Shepard finally cut in, “Do you still feel like yourself? Are you going to be able to leave Saneya when your contract is over?”

Zona hesitated, seemingly slightly off put by the comment of the strange human who seemed inexplicably curious about her, but answered anyway, “It’s not like that. I think I’m still me, but whatever I think about doing with myself…” she paused thoughtfully for a moment, “it fills me with joy. Saneya has been very kind to me, and I’m happy that I get to be working for her for the next couple of years, but after that, I’m really looking forward to taking my new ship back to the Flotilla, and working with my friends and family again. Even the things I used to hate having to do, I feel like I can’t wait to do them! It’s like… I can make myself _want_ to do anything I should do. But I can still make my own choices.”

Despite the mask, everyone in the room could tell that Zona was smiling ear to ear. Saneya shook Beebee’s hand and thanked her warmly. Zona threw her arms around Beebee and even giggled slightly as they hugged goodbye.

“I hope someday I get a chance to repay you, Biavalia.”

“Knowing that you’ll be happy is payment enough, Zona. Keelah Se’lai.”

“Keelah Se’lai.” Zona returned the quarian blessing before leaving with Saneya.

The room’s attention now focused on Commander Shepard who stood with arms folded. She brought a bent finger up to her bottom lip thoughtfully. “You could have made that girl do anything you wanted, couldn’t you? If you felt like it, you could have made her want to serve Saneya until the day she died and had her be grateful for the opportunity.”

“Yes, I could have. But that wasn’t the right path for her. We don’t kidnap sweet girls who are trying to make a better life for themselves. The people we turn to slaves are those who are beyond redemption; criminals, murderers, those who delight in hurting others.”

Jack cut in, “Oh, so people like me, you mean?”

Beebee was a bit taken aback. If she disagreed, it would seem insincere. She’d read about Jack, and if half of what she’d learned was true, this woman truly was a psychotic menace to the galaxy. At least, that used to be true. It seemed that Shepard’s influence had set her on a different path.

“It would have been an act of mercy, Jack.” Beebee whispered, “The pain I sense in you is too great to be contained. You lash out because you believe that if you cause pain to others, you don’t have to keep all of it inside of you.”

She stepped back, as though threatened by the surprisingly astute insight. “Fuck you, and fuck your psychoanalytical bullshit.” she mumbled as she sat down in a huff.

Just then another woman stormed into the office, a human, with a sad-looking asari scrambling behind her. “You’re the slave trainer, right?” The English woman barked the question at the man who’d been sitting quietly for the last few minutes.

Beebee cut in to greet her, “I’m Biavalia Bi’tarah. We are honored by your-”

“Shut up, I’m not talking to you.” the women said abruptly, before turning back to the slave-trainer king, “I hear you know how to get these tentacle-heads to behave themselves. And you do it for free?”

The room was uncomfortably still. Beebee could tell that Shepard was restraining the urge to snap at the woman for her rudeness, while Jack reclined with a smug grin.   
  
The man sat forward slowly, “Can you tell me what problems you’re having?”

“Finally. Well I paid good money for this little trollop, I give her food, clothing, shelter, but nothing’s ever good enough! I mean, she’s working off a ten-year sentence for theft, she should expect to be treated like a criminal!”

They looked at the down-trodden asari. Her clothing was ragged, and she looked thin and sickly, with dark circles beneath her tired eyes.

“... and I think she’s conspiring against me! She keeps asking for element zero supplements, but I know that’s how they do their little biotic tricks. She’d probably smash me into a wall with her mind and escape if I gave them to her. Besides, they’re too expensive for a slave. She can do just fine on left-over human food.”

The trainer’s eyes shifted to the malnourished asari, whose gaze was glued to the floor. “We’re going to help you.” he said.

“Thank god, so how does this work, do you have a machine or something to fixes her brain?” the rude woman asked.

The trainer and Beebee shot a look at each other before he spoke, “Actually, my slave is going to share the techniques that were used to train her. But, the person she’ll be sharing them with will be you.”

“Me?? But she’s the one with the problem, why would-”

“I have found that the training methods of the owner that have the most influence on the slave. If an owner can not lead, than a slave can not follow.” he said.

She sighed, “Well, beating her didn’t work. I may as well try this.”

Beebee approached her, feigning slavish timidity to avoid tipping off the woman about what she was _actually_ going to do, “I… I hope I can do a good job for you, Ma’am. So, please take a deep breath and try to clear your mind, please?” Beebee place a hand on the woman’s shoulder; the woman looked down, curling her lip in disgust at the slave’s touch.

“Why, what exactly are you going to do to-”

“Embrace eternity!”

Beebee’s eyes went black as the two of them were enveloped in cascades of gentle blue light. For a few moments the room was silent, save for the low hum of biotic energy shared between them.

Then just as suddenly as it had began, the meld ended. Beebee stepped back calmly with an air of confidence about her.

“Down.” she commanded. The formerly rude woman dropped to her knees and looked up at Beebee, as though begging for a sign of approval.

“Apologize to Narales.” she turned to the sickly asari slave and dropped her head to the floor in worship.

“I’m so sorry that this stupid cunt mistreated you for so long, Miss Narales. I beg you to punish me for failing to recognize your superiority and grace.”

Narales stood wide eyed and slack-jawed. She looked back and forth between her former owner and Beebee, unsure of what had just happened.

“She belongs to you now.” Beebee explained, “If you order her to release you from your contract, she will do so. If you’d like to sell her into slavery and keep the profits for yourself, she will happily allow it. If you’d like for her to return to the person she was before today, you can make that happen as well. From this point on, she will do or be whatever you want, and she will be pleased to do so.”

Narales looked down at the human prostrating herself at her feet. A part of her couldn’t believe what was happening. “I… think that the first thing I want… are some proper clothes?”

“Of course, Miss Narales!” the woman said as she stripped off her elegant dress along with her shoes and undergarments and stood naked, handing her clothing to the former indentured servant. “It was wrong of me to wear clothes without your permission anyway.”

Narales hadn’t been expecting such a response, but she happily stripped out of her ragged dress and put on the new one. During this time, the room got a glimpse of her emaciated physique and her scarred and welted body. If anyone in the room had doubts that the human woman deserved what had been done to her, they were gone.

“Does anyone have some asari food or supplements?” she asked hopefully. The trainer stood and quickly darted into the back office. He returned a few seconds later with a bottle of element zero supplements and a glass of water. Narales hands shook as she opened the bottle, she downed a handful of pills with the water and that seemed to settle her a little bit.

“I don’t have any food on hand, but if all you’ve been eating is human food, you probably have a severe element zero deficiency.” he explained.

“Thank you.” Narales said, her eyes beginning to well up with tears, “Thank you all so much.”

“If anyone treated me like that, I’d want payback” Commander Shepard said, “So what are you going to do with her now that you have the chance?”

Narales thought for a moment. “There’s already too much cruelty in the world. Now that I have the chance, I want to do something about that.” she handed the woman the ragged dress she had previously been wearing and gestured for her to put it on. “She didn’t used to be this bad. It was only after her husband died that she got cruel. She has two kids that she treats almost as badly as she treats me. I’m going to make sure that they grow up with a mother who’s kind and loving. She has enough money to help a lot of people, too.”

The human stood looking adoringly at the abused girl, “Whatever would make you happy, Miss Narales.”

Narales looked back and forth between Beebee and the Trainer King, “So what should I… I can have her give you some credits if you want. I mean, you can’t really be doing this for free, can you?”

“We have plenty of money” Beebee said with a smile. “Just go, be happy. Do good.”

The still stunned Narales thanked them one last time before leaving with her newly trained human slave.

“How did you know that she would forgive her?” Shepard asked.

“If you spend enough time in other people’s minds, you get really good at reading people.”

Shepard thought for a moment, “Fine, I’ve seen enough to believe that you can help us. So what do you need from me? How can I convince you to trust us?” Shepard asked, addressing Beebee as an equal.

She turned her head toward her master, who spoke on behalf of both of them, “I’ve actually been thinking about that.” he said, “If you were still working for Cerberus, I’d imagine they wouldn’t allow you to share their research or technology.”

“I don’t have security clearance with Cerberus anymore. And I don’t have any of their tech.” Shepard responded.

His eyes shifted to look at the tattooed woman sitting nearby, “But she does.”

Jack jumped to her feet, “So what, you want to dissect me? No deal, find someone else to play doctor with.”

“Passive scans, nothing invasive. I just want to get a look at the technology they put inside of you. Look, we have a lot of enemies, and I’m not much good in a fight. Beebee’s a talented biotic, but if I can adapt some of the things they did to you, it could make her stronger, give her an edge.”

“It’s your choice, Jack” Shepard began, “If they aren’t willing to help us, we’ll find another way.”

Jack sighed, “No, it’s fine.” she turned to the slaver, “But if you screw with me, I’ll turn you and tits here into a fucking stain on the wall.”

The slaver nodded, he led them all into the rear office where he directed Jack to lay down on a medical table. After hitting a few buttons on the console nearby a metallic ring surrounding the table began to emit a sheet of light as it moved up and down over Jack’s body. About twenty seconds went by before the scan finished. The man insisted on performing a few detailed scans with a hand tool, mostly focused around the back of her head and spine. All in all, it was a short and painless process.

“All done. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he said absent-mindedly as he pored over the read-out. There was silence for a few moments before he looked up to see the others staring expectantly at him. “Oh! Right. You have my permission to borrow Beebee for your mission. Her considerable skill-set is at your disposal. Please let me know about any pertinent developments, but most importantly… bring her back safe.”

The asari slave hugged her master lovingly before turning to the red-haired human. “I belong to you now, Commander. I will serve you to the best of my ability until your mission is complete.”

Shepard shakes her hand firmly, hard enough that it makes her exposed breasts jiggle. “I’m glad to have you on board, Beebee. But as long as you’re under my command, you don’t belong to anyone.”

“Understood, Commander.”

“Collect your things and let’s head back to the ship.”

“I don’t have any things, I’m a slave.” Beebee said proudly.

“Than let’s move out.”

Shepard led the pair of partially dressed women back to Melok’s ship.

Beebee glanced casually at Jack as they walked. _Seems like ‘tits out’ is the unofficial uniform for this mission._ She thought smiling to herself. Her thoughts turned to what she saw from Jack’s scan. There was so much technology in her, much of it seemingly unique to her and her alone. _This girl is one of a kind,_ she thought, _in more ways than one._

They returned to this ship where Beebee was introduced to Melok. She was cordial, but she had trouble connecting to salarians. Interacting with a species that lacked a sex drive made her feel… limited.

“It’s a pleasure to have you on board my humble little cargo ship, Miss Bi’tarah.” Melok said.

“Thank you, I am grateful for your hospitality.” It always felt so formal with his kind, she was a nearly naked knockout, yet he looked at her exactly as he would if she were an old man in a suit.

“I hope you don’t mind the lack of accommodations, this ship really isn’t meant to house passengers. Perhaps we can stop somewhere to pick up some supplies to make it more comfortable.” Melok said, seemingly thinking aloud.

“I’m sure the blue bitch is used to roughing it.” Jack called over as she prepared to descend down to her little hiding spot on the lower deck, “What we really need is an engineer.”

Beebee’s eyes perked up, “I’m an engineer.”

Shepard opened her mouth to speak, but paused, her eyes shifting as if considering what to say.

“I don’t mean to doubt your qualifications, but I’ve never heard of a slave who was allowed to learn engineering. Did you pick that up from melding with quarians?” she asked.

“I did pick up some skills that way, Commander. However, I picked up the majority of my engineering knowledge on Thessia. Specifically through the doctoral program at Attena Academy.”

“Hang on, earlier you told me that you’ve been a slave your entire life. Now you’re telling me that you’re a doctor?”

“The two are not mutually exclusive, Commander. My Master insisted that I attend college while he was earning his medical degree. The intersection of our skills is why IndentureTech treats us so well. The innovations we bring them combining technology and biology are highly sought after.”

“Well aren’t you full of surprises, _Doctor_ Bi’tarah.” Shepard said, sounding pleased.

“Please, Commander. Don’t feel as though you need to use titles with me. Call me whatever name pleases you.” Beebee replied.

Shepards eye tensed almost imperceptibly at the suggestion. Beebee could clearly tell that Commander Shepard was uneasy with the idea of slavery. It’s no wonder, with her having narrowly escaped the same fate herself in her youth. It certainly didn’t help matters that Beebee seemed not to suffer the slightest distress from having lived the fate that Shepard spent most of her life fearing.

“I’d like you to put your skills to use in engineering, Beebee. I’m sure Jack would be happy to give you a tour.”

“Shit, ya mean I have to share a deck with Jiggles the blue bimbo?” she turned her eyes to Beebee, “Whatever, just stay out of my way and don’t touch my stuff.”

Beebee’s heart fluttered at the prospect of getting to spend more time with Jack. She wasn’t sure why, but there was something about her that made Beebee just want to strip away the angry, vulgar facade so that she could comfort the scared little girl beneath. She followed her down to the hot, dimly lit deck below.

“So this is engineering, back there is my space, over here is where you shit and piss in a plastic bag, and that little hatch behind it is where you blow it into space. Tour fucking complete. Now try not to bother me.” Jack walked to her cot in the rear of engineering and began studying a datapad. Beebee couldn’t tell if she was actually reading something or if she was simply making a pointed effort to ignore her.

Either way, she decided to begin working. Starships weren’t exactly her specialty, but there was still plenty she could do. In the last few years, she’s probably learned almost as much about engineering by melding minds with quarians as she did in college. She decided to draw more on that knowledge, figuring that it was a skill-set more suited to the task of keeping a well-worn cargo ship running in peak condition.

As she worked, she checked in with herself, as she was taught in mindfulness training. _I have infiltrated a ship with Commander Shepard and Subject Zero, who calls herself Jack. I am on a mission to use Shepard to find Morinth with the hope of making a second attempt to recruit her to join Master and me. This is necessary due to the growing hostilities of competing slavers. I am experiencing hopefulness at the prospect of the safety that Morinth’s protection would provide. I am experiencing joy and pride at the chance to serve Commander Shepard. I am experiencing both an erotic and romantic attraction to Jack. I am experiencing worry regarding what will happen if Shepard or Jack learn of my deception. I am experiencing anxiety at the prospect of my mission failing. These emotions are neither good nor bad, they simply are. I acknowledge them, accept them, and release them._

A sense of peace and tranquility washed over her as it nearly always did after her mini-meditations. Her mind felt cleansed and able to be fully devoted to the task of optimizing the neglected ships operations. She worked for hours, choosing to take joy in the task assigned to her, much the way she’d taught Zona to do earlier that day, In fact, she was so occupied with her task, she hadn’t even noticed when Jack stripped off her clothes until she realized that something behind her cot needed to be adjusted manually.

She approached the now fully exposed Jack as she laid down, seeming to write something on her datapad, “Excuse me, Jack. I apologize for disturbing you, but there is an engine component behind your personal space that I’d like your permission to manually realign.”

She looked up from the screen, “Well aren’t you a polite little slut?”

Beebee smiled, “Yes, Jack. I am a polite little slut. May I please access the component?”

“Do I have to get up?”

“I can maneuver around you if you prefer, Jack.”

“Do what you have to.”

With that, Beebee climbed up onto the cot, balancing her feet on the metal bars that formed the frame. Her legs straddled Jack’s body as she moved toward the component behind her. She finally came to balance carefully with her legs spread just above Jack’s face and began the adjustment. Though she couldn’t help but noticing that the tattooed girl’s attention seemed to be fully directed at what she saw beneath her small, red loincloth.

“Ya know, at first I wasn’t too happy with havin’ somebody else hangin’ around down here, but I’ve got to admit, I’m startin’ to enjoy the view.” Jack said as she put her hands behind her head, staring shamelessly up at Beebee’s cunt.

“I’m glad! Feel free to stare at my pussy as much as you like.” she said as she finished her adjustments. She maneuvered off the metal bars back onto the floor in front of Jack, at which point she shimmied out of the chain that held the two small pieces of fabric that had previously provided her with the bare minimum of modesty. “In fact, you’re welcome to hold on to this.” she said, handing the minimalist garment to her, “This way, you won’t have to worry about anything obstructing your view from now on!”

She stood naked, hands folded at the small of her back, her only garments were the metallic bands around her neck, wrists, and ankles. Jack sat up, Beebee sensed that she had something to say, and therefore devoted her attention to addressing whatever question or command she might have.

“So what’s your deal, you act like an obedient little sex-doll, but I can tell you’re dangerous. Plus I’ve never heard of a slaver who lets their prize pet go off on missions alone. What are you after?” her voice took on a slightly accusatory tone.

“In the short term, I want to help you and Commander Shepard on your mission. Any slaver with an Ardat-Yakshi at their disposal would be dangerous, and virtually untouchable” Beebee replied.

“So let’s say we find her and rescue her. What keeps _you_ from snatching her and taking her home to earn points with your master?”

 _Shit. She’s smarter than she looks. Or maybe just more paranoid._ Beebee focused on not displaying the tension she felt as she looked for the words to respond. “We still don’t know how she was taken. I may be strong, but I imagine I’m no match for Morinth.”

“ _I_ am.”

“What?”

“I could take Morinth in a fight. We bring her back to your slaver boyfriend and explain to ‘er she can either spend the rest of her life on the run, or she can team up with us.”

“Us??” Beebee asked, her expression becoming increasingly stunned.

“Why not? You, me, your boyfriend, and Morinth. We’d have a god-damned empire. Ya know, I used to just kill anyone who started shit with me, but that mind trick of yours, that’s on a whole other level. Take your enemies and make them into your own personal ass-kisser.”

Beebee couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She knew that Jack was a criminal, but she hadn’t expected her to be quite this treacherous. Then again, this could be a trick. Could she suspect? Was this a test to see if she was going to betray them? She’d have to choose her words carefully.

“I… don’t imagine the Commander would appreciate that.”

Jack stared at her for a moment, as though scrutinizing her. “Shit, you’re right. I can’t fuck over Shepard like that. Forget I said anything.”

Beebee inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to return to her work.

“Hey, I don’t recall dismissing you, yet.” Jack called after her. Beebee immediately turned back and stood at attention in front of the naked human. “The way I see it, that little scan your master did on me is what paid for you to be here. So as far as I’m concerned, you belong to me.”

“I agree, Jack. You paid to rent me, and you have the right to use me in any way that would please you.” she replied in a respectful tone. She was enduring a rollercoaster of emotions. Whereas a moment ago she was terrified of being discovered, she was now overjoyed at the prospect of serving Jack.

“So you’ll let me do whatever I want to you, right? As long as I don’t kill you?” She hissed with a menacing grin as she grabbed her pistol and stood up.

“Yes, Jack. Please feel welcome to use me in any way that would give you pleasure.”

She circled around the asari slave, the narrow space resulted in her sweat-covered breasts grazing Beebees arm as she stepped around her.

“Grab your ankles.” Jack commanded.

Gleefully, Beebee widened her stance and bend over, arching her back as she displayed her impressive flexibility to her new mistress.

She felt a hand slap her firmly on the cunt and stay there, the pleasant sting made the asari slave gasp. The hand moved upward slowly, fingers dragging between her lips until they circled her anus. Suddenly, Jack gracefully thrust two fingers into her asshole. She thrust in and out a few times before adding a third, and eventually a fourth. She was rough, but skillful; this obviously wasn’t her first time. She folded her thumb against her palm and began to push.

Beebee had enough training and experience to be able to handle something much bigger than the slender girl’s fist, yet she decided to let out a small yelp as the knuckles cleared her firm, muscular ring. Jack was now wrist-deep in her asshole and began to thrust in deeper and deeper; soon, nearly half the tattooed forearm was disappearing into her ass with each thrust. She bit her lip to muffle her moans, not wanting to alert those on the upper deck of their activities.

“God, what a pathetic little whore you are!” Jack snapped as she repeatedly punched her from the inside.

“Yes, Jack! I’m your pathetic little whore! Thank you for fist-fucking my asshole!” the slave responded.

She felt the barrel of Jack’s pistol press against the side of her head. “Come on, you little blue bitch! You can do better than that. Who owns this ass?”

For some reason, the loaded gun pressed against her head felt more exhilarating than frightening. Perhaps her affinity for Jack was clouding her judgement, nevertheless she happily obeyed as the hairless human violently fist-fucked her.

“You own my ass, Jack! This… ugh! This weak little whore is so happy… ugh, ugh… to be yours! You’re so strong! You’re… mmmph! You’re the toughest! You could kill me whenever you want, and I’ll never forget that! I’ll always… uuuaaah! I’ll always remember that you’re better than me! You’re safe with me, Jack! I’ll never hurt you!”

She felt the fist suddenly withdraw from her bowels, but the pistol stayed where it was. Beebee dared not move. Had she done something wrong? She felt the edge of the gun barrel slide down her neck, across her back and down between her buttocks. She relaxed her sphincter as she anticipated what might be coming.

The bottom of the heavy pistol’s barrel pressed down against the edge of her gaped asshole, stretching her open enough to accommodate the large, rectangular end of the weapon. Jack thrust it in roughly. Beebee winced, this time in genuine pain. The end of the gun was large, with corners that dug into her round hole. The pain was enough for her to notice, but not nearly enough to diminish her enjoyment.

“You think this is a game?”

The threat she heard in the voice made her body tense. “I… I don’t understand.”

“You think I’m gonna trust you just because we had a little fun together. Do you know how I make sure people don’t hurt me? I let ‘em know what’ll happen to them if they try.”

Jack’s strokes slowed in rate but increased in force. One especially hard stroke knocked her off balance, rather than risk disobeying Jack by releasing the hold on her ankles, she merely landed on her face as Jack continued to sodomise her with a pistol.

She smelled the pungent aroma of Jack’s sweaty foot as she placed it on her face and pressed her skull uncomfortably into the metal floor. “Do you think it’d be easy for me to kill you right now?

“Yes, Jack.” she began, her voice beginning to shake, “It will always be very easy for you to kill me. You’re tougher than me; you’re a better fighter. A better killer. I won’t forget. I promise.” her exhilaration turning slowly to fear.

Jack just stood for a moment, her foot on Beebee’s face, her finger on the trigger of a gun shoved up her ass.

Suddenly, she pushed off from the foot pressing down against the side of the asari skull, and unceremoniously yanked the gun away.

“Dismissed.” Jack said as she stepped around her and picked up Beebee’s red loincloth, which she proceeded to use as a rag to wipe the asari’s slick anal secretions from her hand and gun.

Beebee stood up and collected herself, before addressing the woman with a sincere smile, “Thank you for reminding me of my place, Jack.”

With that, she returned to work.   
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is a little bit light on sexy-times, but I assure you, Chapter five will have an abundance of sex, violence, and sexy-violence.

Shepard paced through the large cargo hold. She was willing to give Beebee a little while to see what she could do to optimize the engines. But more than that, she wanted time to think. She didn’t entirely trust the asari, but in the back of her mind she wondered if that was merely her own prejudice toward slavers. After several minutes, she decided to get to know the girl a bit better in the hopes of being enlightened about her true nature. 

“Coming down!” Commander Shepard called as she descended the service ladder to engineering. Her first observation was that Beebee seemed to have shed her stylish loincloth and joined Jack in coping with the heat by not wearing anything.  _ Oh, good. They’re both naked now,  _ she thought, half-sarcastically. 

Beebee immediately stopped what she was doing and called, “Officer on deck.” She stood respectfully, giving her full attention to the red-haired woman; Jack, meanwhile snorted derisively at the formality. 

“Have you enlisted with the Alliance since the last time we spoke?” Shepard asked with a smirk. 

“No, Commander. But as a slave, I try to familiarize myself with whatever protocols my owners may have regarding my behavior; even temporary owners like you.” 

Shepard felt uneasy with how deferential this girl is, she wanted to encourage her to think for herself, “Beebee, I’m not your owner or your commander. But I’d like to be your friend.” 

The slave’s posture loosened up, “I’d like that, too…. Shepard.” 

“If we’re going to be working together, I want to get to know you. Earlier you said that you’ve been a slave since you were born. I’d like to know how that came about.” 

“Of course, Comman- uhh… Shepard. You see, my mother was a xeno-anthropologist. She spent her life studying cultures on the fringe of society, often putting her life in danger to tell the story of groups that were otherwise hidden. Did you know, for example, that the vorcha have poets? Or that there is a religious sect of the volus who’ve taken a vow of poverty? Or that there was a tribe of hanar that practiced cannibalism until a few centuries ago? These groups were very secretive, and my mother often had to make great sacrifices just for the chance to interact with them.” she smiled to herself, “My Master says that I got my penchant for risk-taking from her.

“When she was about eight-hundred, she learned of a Batarian religious cult that didn’t take slaves from other cultures, but instead trained every female born there to be a slave. When my mother first traveled to their colony, she expected to see a society full of women who’d been subjugated and mistreated. But instead, it was a sort of utopia. The standards the men had for themselves were exceptional. They needed to know and understand themselves, they needed to have a sense of inner peace and discipline before they could be considered to own a women. And the women were happy, too. They weren’t abused, they were honored servants fulfilling a divine duty to their masters. They were treated as treasures who had been trained to let go of their sense of self in order to fully devote themselves to the service of others. The balance between master and slave was honored highly, with each acknowledging the struggles and sacrifices of the other. My mother believed that the best way to truly understand their society was to go through the process of slave-training herself. And once she did, she decided she never wanted to leave.” 

“But you’re not batarian, and neither is your master. Do you still follow the philosophy of this batarian cult?” Shepard inquired. 

“Not exactly, although it’s not as though we’ve left behind everything we learned there. We no longer believe that people should be made slaves because of their gender or,” she lifted her breasts to emphasize her femininity, “perceived gender. But we still value the institution of slavery as one that can help both master and slave thrive when they put in the effort to work harmoniously.” 

“Well, you’ve explained how an asari came to be living on that colony.” Shepard said, “But your master is a human. Batarians don’t usually get along well with humans, so how did you two end up together.” 

“He and his father moved there when he was very young. His father… was a traitor.” Shepard seemed taken aback by how harshly the slave spoke of her master’s family. Beebee continued, “He worked with the Alliance military; an angry, bigoted man. He sold humanity’s secrets to the batarians, I was one of the things he received in return. It’s uncomfortable to speak about in detail, so I’ll just say that my Master’s father didn’t care for asari much more than he did for humans. He gave me to his ten-year-old son as a plaything, and I’ve been His ever since.” 

“So when you left the colony, you wanted to make the galaxy better with the skills you had. It must have been quite a surprise learning how other cultures treated slaves.” Shepard remarked. 

“It was. We’d gotten a sense that we should hide the true nature of our relationship and our origin when we were in college, but it wasn’t until we got out to the Terminus Systems that we realized how cruel and ruthless other slavers are.” Beebee said.

“While we’re on the topic, I wanted to know your thoughts on the other slavers. Can you put together a list of who you think might have taken Morinth?” 

“Well,” Beebee began slowly, appearing to choose her words carefully, “I have knowledge of just about every major player among the slavers. If you get a lead, I can tell you where to go, who to talk to, how each slaver thinks and operates. But given that the only lead you have so far is a message from her, it seems like maybe the best course of action would be to reach out to her discreetly and tell her that you need to know her location. Maybe she’ll find a way to transmit a message to you again.” 

Shepard pulled a datapad from her pocket, “It seems unlikely. The message was rushed. She probably isn’t going to get another chance to transmit. See for yourself.” She handed Beebee the datapad with Morinth’s message on it. 

Beebee looked at the pad, “Well, it looks like she already tried to send you her location once, but the message was too corrupted during transmission.” 

“The message wasn’t corrupted during transmission, whoever sent it redacted the message and made it look like a transmission glitch.”

Beebee blinked a few times as she looked at Shepard, her breathing seemed to quicken slightly, “How… could you possibly know that?”

“A good friend of mine is an information broker, I had her look into it.” Shepard’s eyes narrowed, “It made you nervous when I told you the corruption was fake. Why is that?” 

Beebee swallowed before answering, “It’s just… that means that whoever sent the message was clever. And that they probably intercepted the message before Morinth could send it. Which means that whoever had her was using the message as bait to draw you out. That makes me nervous, because whoever we’re going up against can apparently capture an Ardat-Yakshi and believes that they can capture you as well.” 

“You said that whoever  _ had _ her was using the message as bait. Do you know something about her that you’re holding back?” 

“No! It’s just, I’ve been thinking that it’s possible that she’s escaped by now. Maybe she’s afraid to contact you through the usual channels to let you know that she’s all right. I can set up something secure for you, you can send her a message with something only you’d know. We should consider the possibility that all this is a wild-goose chase because Morinth is too paranoid to tell you that she got away. Her priority would be on laying low, not on checking in to let you know that she’s resolved the situation herself.”

Shepard paused for a moment to think, “I don’t think she would have sent that message if she thought she could escape on her own. But I’ll consider your suggestion; set up a secured channel in case we decide to send a message to Morinth when I get back.” 

“Get back?” 

“I’m going to look for a Comm Station on Nos Astra, there are a few people I want to check in with to see if I can track down any new leads.” 

“Oh, you’re sure you don’t need me and Jack to get our gear?” the blue-skinned slave inquired. 

“No, I’ll be fine on my own.” she said as she climbed back to the upper deck. 

_ She knows that I’m going to be making inquiries about her and her master. That’s why she wanted to come along,  _ Shepard thought.  _ She’d holding something back, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s guilty of something. _

Shepard hadn’t planned on spending quite so much time on Illium, but she supposed she was hoping that they’d find some lead sooner. She didn’t want to just blindly fly into the Terminus Systems and hope that they’d come across someone who knows something relevant. She snapped on the last of her armor and holstered her pistol before heading back out to Nos Astra port to look for a holographic comm terminal where she could contact a few people in a last ditch attempt to find some heading for Melok to take them in the freshly tuned-up ship. 

It didn’t take her long to find someone willing to let her requisition some time 

After a few moments, the transparent light formed the shape of Liara T’soni. 

“Shepard,” Liara said through the hologram, “I hadn’t expected you to contact me again so soon. I’ve continued looking into who might have taken Morinth, but I’m afraid I haven’t had much luck.” 

“Actually, I’ve picked up someone who might be able to help. But I wanted your assistance in vetting her. If she’s compromised in some way, I’d like to find out sooner rather than later.” Shepard said, getting right to business with her on-again off-again lover. 

“You don’t trust this person? It’s unusual for you to allow someone onto your team if you have doubts about them, Shepard.” 

“She’s a slaver; that makes me question her motives right off the bat. But she knows things that could be useful. She goes by Dr. Biavalia Bi’tarah, she works for a man known as the Slave Trainer King. I didn’t catch his name.” 

“I’ve come across the Slave Trainer King in my research, but having the name of his partner may help identify him. Give me just a moment while I pull up what I have on them…. Yes! Here it is. Dr. Biavalia Bi’tarah, she attended Attena Academy. Her bondmate at the time was listed as a Dr. Perceval Bushwick, his picture matches the description of the Slave Trainer King, though he used to be much thinner. Records show that they met on a batarian colony where they had lived together for several years prior.” 

_ So she was telling the truth about that much at least,  _ she thought. Shepard had learned the name of the “Slave Trainer King.” That was new information at least; she thought that the name sounded almost whimsical. It was ill-suited to the thickly-muscled, serious man she’d met at the IndentureTech offices. 

“What about after college? Do you have any information on how they ended up slavers in the Terminus Systems?” 

Liara appeared to be reading a document that Shepard couldn’t see through the holographic interface, “He spent years working as a medical doctor. It seems he had a gift for treating asari genetic diseases. Dr. Bi’tarah was a researcher for a company that made biotic amps. Hang on…” she paused, her brow furrowing as she read, “Dr. Bi’tarah was reported as having two sisters, but there are almost no records of them, no birth records, no college transcripts, not even names. The only thing I’m finding is an unsolved investigation into their deaths. Apparently her and her master disappeared almost as soon as the investigation began.” 

“That’s suspicious.” Shepard said to herself as she brought her thumb to the edge of her mouth in thought. 

“It is only due to your information that I was able to connect these people with their previous lives. Until now, no one had made the connection that the Slave Trainer King and the...ahem… Queen of Whores were the same couple that attended college on Thessia years ago. They’ve done a very good job covering their tracks. If she gave you her name willingly, it seems that she wanted you to be able to look into her past. Also, if it helps, my reports show that they are among the more ethical of slavers, if such a thing as an ‘ethical slaver’ can even exist.” 

“Thanks, Liara. I know I can always count on you. Signing off.” 

“Wait! I’ve been thinking about your problem. I wanted to suggest that you might wish to speak with Aria T’loak. I may be the Shadow Broker, but in the Terminus Systems, at least, I suspect that Aria’s resources rival even my own.” 

Shepard mentally kicked herself for not thinking of it sooner. Of course she should talk to Aria. She was the pirate queen of the Terminus Systems. If some slaver was using an Ardat-Yakshi to make a power grab in her territory, she’s be one of the first to know. “Thanks, Liara. I think I’ll do that. We’ll be in touch.” With that she severed the connection. 

Shepard opened a channel to Omega, the city sized space station over which Aria had dominion. She was first connected with an abrupt batarian who seemed annoyed by her request to speak to Aria. After repeatedly explaining that she was, in fact, the real Commander Shepard, the batarian told her to hold. 

An image of Aria T’loak appeared, she was navigating through some document on a datapad, pointedly refusing to even make eye contact. 

“What.” Aria spat the word as a harsh demand to know why she’d been disturbed. 

“Nice to see you again, too.” Shepard replied with a wry smile. 

“I’m a busy woman, Shepard. I hope you’re not wasting my time with a social call.”

“I’m sure you remember the Ardat-Yakshi I was tracking on Omega a few months ago. Well it seems that she’s been abducted by slavers, and I’m currently working with an associate of the Slave Trainer King to try to find and rescue her. Unfortunately, leads on her whereabouts are hard to come by, so I was hoping that maybe you could help point me in the right direction. 

Without turning her head, Aria’s eyes shifted to meet with Shepard’s, “Are you telling me that you’re working with Beebee?” 

“That’s right, is there something I should know about her?” 

“We need to talk about this in person. Come here straight away, Shepard.” Aria said before immediately hanging up. 

_ Well, it looks like we have our destination.  _ She thought as she headed back to the ship. 

***

“Melok, we’ve got our heading. Take us to Omega.” the Commander ordered. 

“Right away, Commander!” Melok said, the sound of docking clamps releasing soon followed. 

The next sound she heard was of bare feet quickly ascending the ladder from engineering, a blue head popped up. “Did I hear right? We’re going to see Queen Aria??” 

“I have a hunch she might be able to help us. Seems like the two of you know each other.” 

The full figure of Beebee’s violet striped blue flesh came into view as she stepped up into the cargo hold. “I used to work for Queen Aria, I did performances on Omega years ago when Master and I were just starting out in this part of the galaxy.” 

“You mean Dr. Bushwick?” Shepard asked. She was curious to see how this girl would respond. 

Her expression didn’t change, “I figured that you’d look into us. Anyway, Master never liked that name. It ties in with what I’m sure you must realize is an acrimonious relationship with his father. If you need to call him anything, ‘Trainor’ is a name he’s sometimes used.” 

“Real creative with the names, isn’t he?” Shepard asked sarcastically.

“Just humble when it comes to himself. He gave  _ me _ quite a beautiful name though, don’t you think?” Biavalia asked. 

“Wait, he named you??” 

“I needed an asari name when we got to college. Before that I was officially named Slave B. Although “Beebee” has been my nickname as long as I’ve been with him.” she looked off for a moment with an expression Shepard suspected might be a sorrowful nostalgia. 

_ If the fate of her sisters is supposed to be a secret, she’d doing a bad job of hiding it. Even if I hadn’t looked into her, the natural question that arises is, “What happened to Slave A?” No, that was purposeful. She wanted me to believe she isn’t hiding anything.  _ Shepard thought for a moment, but decided that now wasn’t the right time to ask about it. 

Melok warned them that they were approaching the Mass Relay to Omega. They braced themselves for the sudden acceleration. A few moments later, they were out the other side. It’d still be a few minutes at Faster-Than-Light before they’d actually arrive at Omega. 

“Hey, you girl scouts playing patty cake up here or what?” Jack said as she climbed to the upper deck. Her still unclothed body slick with sweat. “Let’s keep everyone in the loop from now on. Whenever people go off and talk behind my back, I usually end up having to add to my body count.” 

“Of course, Jack. I apologize for leaving without your permission.” the slave replied.

“Permission?” Commander Shepard asked, “Beebee, I don’t know what she’s been telling you, but you’re not Jack’s subordinate.” 

“Yes I am. She paid for me, and now I’m hers until the mission is complete. I would have been happy to belong to both of you, but you specified that you only want to be friends.” 

Shepard suddenly regretted how she’d handled things. She’d opened the door to allow Jack to have dominion over this woman, and Jack didn’t exactly share the Commander’s moral compass. “Have you ever considered… belonging to yourself? Making your own decisions?” 

“Have you considered selling yourself into slavery?” Beebee snapped. The Commander was surprised by the Beebee’s sudden attitude. “You told me you wanted to be friends, Shepard. But all you’ve done is check up on me behind my back and try to convince me to adopt  _ your _ way of thinking. I’m happy as a slave; I have a Master that I love, I get to travel the galaxy helping people. My slavery has helped me become strong, and smart. You can try to change my mind if you want, but keep in mind, I can play that game, too,” her eyes went pure black as she spoke, “and I’m a lot better at it than you.”

“Look at that, Shepard.” Jack remarked with a smirk, “Bimbo-tits here has some backbone after all!” 

A twinge of anger shot through her chest like a hot bolt of lightning, but when she considered her response for a moment, she realized that she’d been unreasonable. She’d never been one to question the lifestyles or religions of those under her command, she didn’t want to change who she was just because slavery was a sore spot for her. “You’re right.” Shepard began contritely, “I was being stupid; it’s just that I can’t imagine a life without free-will. But if that’s what makes you happy, than I shouldn’t try to change that.” 

Her threatening demeanor suddenly shifted to cordiality “Apology accepted, Shepard.” Beebee stepped forward and threw her arms around the redheaded marine. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have snapped at you, or threatened you. I swear I didn’t mean it.” She squeezed firmly, her large naked breasts pressing against Shepard’s chest. She felt a slight tingle building between her legs as she returned Beebee’s embrace, the lemony-sweet scent of asari perspiration filling her nostrils. She tried to put the lascivious thoughts from her mind, reminding herself it was merely a physiological reaction to having a sweaty, naked asari in her arms. 

“Maybe save the lesbian fuck-fest for after the mission. I heard something about Omega?” Jack interjected. 

“We’re going to talk to Aria T’loak.” Shepard explained. “She might be our best chance at getting an idea of who might have Morinth.” 

“Great, and we have a secret weapon here.” Jack said as she slapped Beebee on the ass, “There’s nothing Aria loves more than having her ass-kissed, and we’re bringing the galaxy’s best ass-kisser.” 

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve given Aria a rim-job. Although usually she liked to dress me up in a red wig and call me ‘Commander Shepard’ while I’m doing it.” Beebee grinned ear-to-ear while Shepard’s jaw dropped with a look of shock. 

“Relax, Shepard! I’m only kidding.” Beebee said, before adding, under her breath, “about the wig part.” 

Shepard knew that she should focus on the mission, but her mind flashed back over her interactions with Aria. She did take a certain delight in dominating others that bordered on the sensual. It certainly wouldn't be surprising to learn that the pirate queen fantasized about sexually dominating powerful people. In fact, it’d be surprising to learn that she didn’t. Still, the idea that Aria fantasized about using her as a sexual play-thing was an uncomfortable notion. 

From the cockpit, they heard Melok call back to them, “Approaching Omega, dropping out of FTL!” 

Shepard and Jack grabbed what they could to brace themselves, remembering the sudden violent jerk that generally occurs when Melok disengaged the FTL drive. Beebee, however stood in the middle of the floor and crossed her arms with a confident grin. 

There was a thunk and a whoosh, but rather than a sudden jerk, the ship merely swayed slightly before steadying itself. 

“Well she sure as shit wasn’t lying about being an engineer.” Jack remarked. 

“Jack’s right. Good job Dr. Bi’tarah. All right people, suit up and grab your gear.” 

“Already done, Shepard.” Beebee replied, standing naked but for the segmented black metal bands that formed her cuffs and collar. 

“Are you sure? Omega’s a dangerous place.” Shepard asked. 

“Well if I’m wearing more than this, Queen Aria may not recognize me!” she remarked playfully, before adding, “Besides, these can generate a rather effective kinetic barrier if needed.” she explained, tapping her collar. 

Jack headed down to retrieve her own clothing, along with her shotgun and pistol. 

“You like her, don’t you?” Beebee whispered once Jack was out of earshot. 

“I did for a while, yeah. But I’ve moved on; she doesn’t feel the same way.” 

“She really is special, isn’t she?” 

“One of a kind.” Shepard said thoughtfully.

Beebee had a girlish smile as she sat next to Shepard and put her arm around her, “I’ll see what I can do.” 

“But I thought… it seemed like the two of you were starting to get pretty close.” 

“We are. But that doesn’t mean you need to be left out. Jack has three fuckholes, you and I have two tongues. If my math is right, we might need to start looking for a third to keep her satisfied.” 

Shepard couldn’t help but smile awkwardly at the vulgar joke. “You really don’t have any shame, do you?” 

“Not one bit. It’s liberating, you should try it.” she said with a giggle. 

_ I guess this is how she talks to her friends,  _ Shepard thought. A part of her was intrigued by Beebee’s attitude about sexuality. Most asari were pretty open with their bodies, but they generally used more poetic language. It was uncharacteristic to hear an asari use words like ‘fuckhole’ and ‘rim-job,’ especially in such light-hearted conversation. It was jarring, but it gave Beebee a profound lack of pretentiousness. On top of that, she truly seemed at ease with herself. After working with so many people with haunted pasts, it took Shepard a while to recognize it, but this asari girl seemed to have no inner conflicts. She was almost like a child in that regard. Somehow innocent despite her obvious sexual depravity. 

The journey to Aria’s nightclub on Omega was uneventful. A few of the strippers smiled at Beebee, seemingly in recognition, though that was hardly surprising. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye Shepard saw Beebee appear to suddenly collapse. Her hand instinctively reached for her gun, but she was able to make sense of the scene before she drew it. 

Aria had come up behind them. When Beebee realized, she immediately dropped to her knees and pressed her forehead to the floor just ahead of Aria’s feet. “Queen Aria! This lowly slave thanks you for the honor of allowing us an audience with you.” She spoke loudly, though her voice was muffled slightly by the floor. 

The pirate queen of Omega ignored the groveling naked girl and instead addressed Shepard with a her trademark sinister smile. “I had to see it to believe it. The great Commander Shepard teamed up with the Queen of Whores. You really have a knack for taking in strays.” 

“I’m not here to discuss my choice in friends, Aria. It seemed like you had something important to discuss. 

“Not here, follow me.” Aria began walking away. 

Shepard took a few steps toward her, concerned about Beebee, “Is she just going-”

“She can crawl.” Aria said abruptly. Shepard looked back to see Beebee moving gracefully on all fours, her long athletic limbs seeming to have no problem keeping up with Aria’s purposeful pace.

Shepard walked just behind Aria as she ascended a staircase, Beebee crawled behind her, and Jack brought up the rear. Though mostly, Jack hung back because she wanted to get a good look at Beebee’s ass on all fours. Being well aware of this, Beebee made a particular effort to sway her hindquarters seductively, making sure Jack got a good look at her cunt and asshole as they followed Aria up the stairs. 

“So what have you got for me?” Shepard asked as Aria led them into a large private room.

“An opportunity.” she was speaking to Shepard but her eyes were fixed on Beebee, who was kneeling, her wrists folded at the small of her back and her eyes downcast with a submissive smile. “You tell me there’s a slaver who controls an Ardat-Yakshi. On one hand, if I take you at your word, than a slaver wielding that kind of power could be… problematic. On the other hand, I can’t exactly send a Spectre after everyone I know who might be brave or stupid enough to take on a super-powered serial killer. I haven’t gotten where I am by making more enemies than I have to.” 

“So what did you have in mind?” Shepard asked, though she was disappointed to learn that Aria didn’t have any concrete intel. She had been hoping for a solid lead, rather than just a list of suspects. 

“Morinth was too dangerous a person to ignore. After your mission with the Collectors, I had my people keep an eye out for her. She’s difficult to track, stays below the radar. I can’t tell you where she is now, but I can at least tell you where she’s been.”

“Any chance you can tell us if some of your slaver friends happened to be seen around the same places?” Shepard asked, hoping she wouldn’t have to do the tedious tasks of cross-referencing intelligence reports herself. 

“My people are putting that together as we speak. I should be getting a report tomorrow.” 

“But I don’t suppose you’ll let us see it for free, will you?” Shepard’s back-and-forth with Aria was almost flirtatious. In a way, they respected each other’s strength. Yet in a much bigger way, they used one another for mutual gain; and neither of them had illusions about that. 

“I’m a businesswoman, Shepard. And you happen to be dragging around a golden goose.” Aria met Shepard’s gaze briefly, before staring back down at Beebee.

“She mentioned that you’d worked together before. What exactly is it that you want her to do?” 

“I’ve had plenty of skin shows on Omega, but none that can draw a crowd like this one. Her performances are the perfect combination of sex and violence.” 

Beebee’s demure smile widened as Aria spoke of her. 

“The first time I hired her for a show, I figured she’d just shake her ass and maybe get herself off for the crowd. But she brought a friend with her; she introduced the show like they were gladiators; the two of them beat each other half to death until the friend couldn’t stand, then this one fucked her unconscious in front of the crowd. The things she did to that poor girl... it’s one thing to disgrace her in a fight, but this little whore humiliated that girl. Did things that I hadn’t even seen on the extranet.” Aria explained with an appreciative grin. 

Shepard looked down at the kneeling asari, “You fought in cage matches?” Her tone was one of surprise, but far from disapproval. 

“It was a hell of a show, but after a few more bouts my customers started getting tired of the undefeated asari. So we decided to bring in a ringer, some psychotic vorcha we knew could beat her. After the fight, the crazy bitch fucked her bloody with a fourteen-inch strap-on. But this one just took it like a good little whore. Even begged for more.” 

Jack spoke for the first time since they’d docked at Omega, “Wow, and I thought  _ I _ was into some fucked up shit.” 

“You want her to be abused and degraded for entertainment? Out of the question!” 

“Shepard.” Beebee said from the floor, “You said that you wanted me to make my own decisions. Let me do this for you.” 

“Beebee, you don’t have to-” 

“I agree to your terms, Queen Aria. I will perform in exchange for information that will help us find Morinth.” 

Aria smiled the way she did when she was winning, a self-satisfied smirk that those close to her saw often. “I already knew you’d do anything to help your ‘commander,’ Beebee. But I’m afraid that you won’t be enough on your own. You’ll need an opponent.” 

For the first time, Aria locked her eyes on Shepard as her smirk widened to reveal her teeth. 

“You want her to fight me??”

“And I want you to fuck her when you win. If you can do a half-decent job of making it seem like you’re really violating her, she can cry and beg enough to make it convincing.” 

Shepard was appalled that so many of Aria’s customers would pay to essentially watch a live rape-show, but at the same time she was somewhat comforted by the idea that she could control the situation. If Beebee was fighting some random girl, she could really get hurt, or hurt someone else. But Shepard would know when to stop, when to hold back, it would be a performance, nothing more. A part of her wanted to agree, but if word got out that Commander Shepard was performing in live-sex shows on Omega, she could kiss her time as an Alliance soldier goodbye. 

Seeming to anticipate her concern, Aria began, “Don’t worry, Shepard. We’ll put you in a mask. Nobody outside of this room will know that it’s you.” 

She began to ask what the point of having a celebrity like her perform in a sex show if no-one knew it was her, but before she could ask, she already knew the answer. Aria would know. Even if no one else found out, Aria would always know what she got Commander Shepard to do for her. 

Both resentful, yet aroused, Commander Shepard agreed to the terms. Aria told her that she’d schedule the show for tomorrow at 1800 hours. That’d give her enough time to market the event, and collect the information that would serve as payment. Shepard had a weakness for beautiful asari women, and with two of them practically begging her, she was helpless to resist. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally getting to the sexy parts of this story! This chapter has multiple scenes of violent sex and sexy violence. I should be able to incorporate a lot more of that kind of thing in subsequent chapters as well. 
> 
> Also, I've been reading a lot of things that I hope will improve my writing. I'm hoping it shows in this chapter, and I intend to eventually go back and revise the previous chapters a little bit to bring them up to my new standards of quality. Each chapter is basically a very polished first draft, and when this novel is finished, I intend to go back through the whole thing and try to improve it as a whole. 
> 
> Also, I switched around the name of an upcoming quarian character with the quarian from chapter three. So on the off chance that there's someone who's been following this story closely and thinks, "Hey, isn't Sholi'far the girl from chapter three?" than just know that you aren't imagining things, I just stole her name and gave it to a different character.

Chapter Five

Beebee had a moment to consider everything, now that she was back on the ship. _It’s not surprising that Aria was able to track Morinth,_ she thought, _An Ardat-Yakshi tends to leave a distinctive trail of bodies. I just didn’t consider that Aria would care enough to do it._

She worked as her mind fretted, hoping that her furrowed brow could be blamed on some stubborn engineering problem. If anyone asked around at the places that Morinth had been over the last several weeks, it’s a near-certainty someone would mention the busty, violet-striped asari making a spectacle of herself at every one. She had to be a spectacle or she wouldn’t have caught Morinth’s attention!

_And I needed to offer to help Shepard get the information. She’s going to get it somehow, and it’ll be too suspicious if it seems like I tried to keep her from it. Plus, this way I can cast doubt about its authenticity. “What? How could you accuse me, Shepard? Well why would I have helped you get this information if I knew it’d incriminate me? Aria must be playing us against each other because… she’s, uhh, threatened that we’re working together… or something.”_

She’d have to work on it, but it was an option. Beebee could cast doubt on Aria’s motivations. Aria was secretive, and the only thing you could trust about her is that she’d do whatever was in her own self-interest. Beebee had laid some groundwork to get Shepard on her side. Played up the slave act in front of her, knowing that it put her ill at ease. And when the Commander spoke out, she pretended to be angry and accused her of discrimination. Beebee hoped it would put Shepard in a position where she’d second-guess her doubts, wondering if her suspicions are merely due to her prejudice against slavers.

She didn’t take any special joy in manipulating people, but she was unquestionably good at it. Of course, if there was a way she could keep the information out of Shepard’s hands to begin with, all the better. Still, she wanted to mentally prepare herself for all contingencies.

“Hey, Pump-and-dump Barbie, looks like you’ve got something on your mind.”

She was so lost in thought, she’d almost forgotten that Jack was less than twenty feet away. She turned to see the naked human at the other end of the arid, machinery-lined walkway. She sat at the edge of her cot in her typical elbow-on-one-knee-palm-on-the-other ‘tough guy’ posture.

“If you keep changing my name so often, my dumb little slave-brain might start getting confused” Beebee replied with a giggle.

Jack stared for a moment, obviously unamused. “Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Talk shit about yourself. I mean, it’s one thing when I say I’m a crazy bitch, ‘cuz at least that’s true. But I know for a fact that you’re not stupid.”

Beebee turned off her bimbo act in favor of the sincerity that Jack obviously sought. “No, I’m not. But I’m also not used to being rented by people who appreciate a slave acting like she’s equal, or possibly even superior.”

“I’m starting to think Shepard’s got a point about you being so submissive that it’s a little creepy. When you were with Aria, I got the feeling that she could have taken a dump on your face and you would have smiled and asked for more.”

“That… is one-hundred percent accurate.” She said with a half-guilty smile. “But! I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable, so maybe we can compromise. I’ll stop acting like ‘pump-and-dump barbie,’ but I’ll still obey you and allow you to use me however you like.”

“I could get on board with that. Ya know when you stood up to Shepard earlier, it actually turned me on a little bit. Been thinkin’ about what I should do about that.” The flirt in Jack’s voice was clear.

“Ahh, testing me already, Jack? Expecting me to say something like, ‘Oh! This dirty, dumb little slave-bitch made Mistress’s pussy wet? Well please! I beg you for the honor of cleaning up your sweet, beautiful cunt with my worthless little asari tongue!” She took on a comical tone, in a mockery of her own over-the-top submissiveness, before switching back to what seemed to be her natural personality. “Well I’m not going to do that. You asked why I pretend to be less than I am, so turnabout is fair play. Tell me why you pretend to be nothing.”

The muscles in Jack’s tattooed shoulders tensed ever-so-slightly, not expecting her attempt at flirtation to result in what she viewed as an interrogation.

“You can’t tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about. ‘Subject Zero’ ‘Miss Nought.’ What’s the matter, was ‘Jack Shit’ already taken?”

A smile briefly formed on her face before vanishing just as quickly. “Ya know, I actually considered that one for a minute. And I’m not the one who called myself ‘Subject Zero.’”

“But you embraced it. Made nothingness a part of your identity. Why?” She pressed.

“I don’t wanna play twenty questions. Don’t you have something to align or calibrate or some shit?”

 _She’s pulling away,_ Beebee thought. She wanted to get closer to Jack, partially because it’d be advantageous to have her as an ally, but mostly because she found herself wanting to truly know Jack.

“You talk about playing games a lot.” Beebee said; the comment coming, from Jack’s perspective, out of nowhere.

“What?”

“We should play one.” she said, walking over and plopping her round ass on the deck just ahead of Jack’s feet. “Do you like Truth or Dare?”

Jack seemed taken aback. “I… Oh, I see what you’re doing. Trying to get me to open up? Hoping I’ll eventually tell you something you can use to get whatever the fuck it is you want.” Her tone bordered on accusation.

“Yup, that’s exactly what I want. I want you to open up so that I can find out something that’ll help me know how to make you happy. Pleasing others is what I’ve been taught to want ever since I was born.”

Jack sighed, “I dunno.”

“Oh, well that’s okay. If you’re too much of a little pussy to play a game that grade-schoolers play at slumber parties, I’ll understand.” Despite her teasing tone, there was no hostility behind her words.

Jack smiled, “Oh, fuck you.” She shook her head as if she couldn’t believe she was talked into this. “Fine, I’m in. So how does this work?”

Beebee squealed with girish delight. “So you would start by asking me ‘truth or dare’ and if I picked ‘truth’ you could ask me anything and I’d have to answer it honestly, if I pick ‘dare’ you can dare me to do whatever you want and I have to do it. Then we switch and you pick.”

“So how do I win?”

“Oh, umm… it’s not really a winning or losing type of game. It’s just supposed to be fun.”

“Whatever, what do ya pick?” Jack asked with an almost indifferent tone.

“Truth. So that means you can ask me whatever you want. It can be something really personal or embarras--”

“Yeah, I get it.” Jack began, “Okay, how’d you know the name ‘Nought?’”

“I looked into you on the extranet.” she began carefully, “You post things as Jacqueline Nought from your omni-tool. I was surprised to learn that you write poetry. You also say a lot of very rude things to strangers on message boards. That was… less surprising.”

“Why were you looking into me?”

“Uh-uh! You only get one question. Now it’s my turn. Truth or dare?”

“Dare.” Jack said without hesitation. Beebee had somewhat expected this; there was nothing she could ask Jack to do that would scare her as much as asking her to open up.

“I dare you to kiss me.”

“Ha! Is that it?”

Beebee smiled in response as she waited for Jack to fulfill her dare.

Jack scooted her naked ass over on the cot until she was directly in front of Beebee, who sat cross-legged. With a swift movement, Jack grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back, tackling her passionately to the floor before straddling her; her sweaty cunt grazing the very lowest edge of her asari abdomen. She grabbed Beebee’s wrists and pinned them to the deck beside the asari’s head, then her face descended like a viper striking at her prey. Their lips collided firmly before softening, Jack’s slick tongue darting forward to sensually wrestle against hers. Beebee’s heart fluttered, she felt so utterly conquered by the tattooed woman’s sensual dominance. A feeling of tingly exultation washed over her skin.

As she pulled away from the sapphire-skinned slave, her teeth clamped down animalistically on Beebee’s bottom lip. In response, she let out a small squeak of both pain and jubilation. Jack rose and sat back down casually, seemingly ignoring the expression of aroused bliss on the naked slave’s face.

“Your turn again, truth or dare?”

She continued to lay where she’d been tackled, basking in the afterglow of her first kiss with Jack, “Truth.” She said it without even opening her eyes.

“Why were you looking into me on the extranet?”

“Mmmmm because I’m falling in love with you.” Beebee hadn’t exactly meant to be so candid, but it was too late now.

“What the hell, Beebee!? That can’t… you don’t even know me.” she seemed flustered by the sudden confession.

“I’m five times your age,” she said sitting up, “and I’ve spent my life learning how to please my owners. Instantly figuring out who someone is and what they truly want is the job of every good asari whore, and I happen to be the best asari whore. I can tell that you’re different from everyone. You’re certainly different from me, you’ve had to spend your life thinking only of yourself, trusting no one. I’ve always lived for others.”

“Well that’s a stupid way to live.”

“And yet, I am much smarter than you.”

Jack glared, but Beebee could tell that a part of her was inwardly proud to hear her boast about herself rather than playing at her normal bimbo routine, “Yeah, well I’m tougher than you.”

“I fully believe that that’s true.” Beebee said with a smile. “Your turn again. Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“I dare you to ask Shepard on a date.”

Jack threw up her hands “You _just_ said you were in love with me!”

“Which is why I want you to be happy. I think giving Shepard a chance could make you happy.”

“She made a pass at me a while back, or… I mean, I could tell she was going to. I already told her I’m not interested.”

“Don’t you find her attractive? She has a _great_ ass.”

“It’s not that, I just don’t want to be with someone where it’s a constant pissing contest to decide who’s on top. That’s why I like you, I don’t have to wonder…” Jack stopped short, realizing that she had just admitted to liking Beebee.

“You don’t have to wonder who wears the dick in _our_ relationship.” Beebee said, finishing Jack’s thought.

Jack smiled as she blushed, “Plus, you’re not going to give me shit for not talking all high-class.”

“I’ll betcha a rim-job that I’ve got a dirtier fuckin’ mouth than you.” Beebee teased, slightly impersonating Jack’s style of speaking.

“I don’t know about asking out Shepard, though.”

“Well… maybe I can inspire her to leave her the alpha-bitch routine at home when the two of you go out.”

“Whatever. I’m telling her you dared me to do it, though. It’s your turn now.”

“Hmmm, dare.”

Jack thought for a moment, “Okay, I’ve got somethin.’ You’re gonna fight Shepard tomorrow, right? The way you were all talking, it seemed like everyone was assuming you’d take a dive. I dare you to win.”

“What? Jack, you can’t dare me to do that! It’s impossible!”

“It’s not impossible. Hell, I could kick Shepard’s ass if it came down to it. I’ll give you some pointers. Besides, Shepard’s not even a biotic; you could wipe the floor with her.”

“I’m not allowed to use biotic attacks on an opponent. Aria says that it’d do too much damage to the club.”

“We’ll figure somethin’ out. You’re not gonna pussy out on me, are ya?”

“Of course not. I will do my best to beat her, but I still can’t guarantee that I’ll win.”

“Fair enough. I guess it’s my turn again. Truth.”

Beebee could tell that Jack’s aloof body language hid the anxiety she felt at the prospect of opening up. Still, Beebee had given Jack a dare, and she wasn’t _completely_ without a sense of fairness.

“I guess I don’t have a specific question. But I want you to tell me something you’ve never told anyone before. Something real about you.”

Jack sighed, “Figures.” She paused for a moment in thought. “Okay… here we go… sometimes I wonder if my mom is still alive. And I wonder, if she ever thinks about me. There, happy?”

“Did you ever meet her?”

“No, earliest thing I remember is that god-damn Cerberus facility on Pragia. I remember needles. I hated the needles. I was too young to know what they were injecting me with. Hell, I still don’t know half the shit they did to me. Doesn’t matter anymore. But I still wonder if she knew.”

Beebee’s tone was somber. “You wonder if she sold you to them, or if they stole you.”

“Yeah. I’ve thought about trying to track her down. Maybe they took me from her and she’s been looking for me all this time. Maybe they convinced her that I was dead… What if she misses me?”

“So why don’t you find her?” Beebee asked gently.

“Because what if she just gave me away?” Jack’s eyes glistened. “What if Cerberus offered her money and I was just some big fucking payday to her?” Jack’s voice started to tremble. “What if she really just didn’t give a shit? Maybe to her I really was…”

“Nothing.” Beebee finished, as Jack sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes, regaining her composure. She realized then that the names Jack gave herself were her way of facing her greatest fear. She embraced being nothing so that no one could use it to hurt her. “We can stop now if you-”

“No, fuck that!” she snapped. “You’re not gettin’ off that easy. It’s your turn and I’m picking for you this time. You pick truth. Same fucking question!”

 _That’s fair,_ the asari thought calmly to herself, _she really opened up to me. I need to tell her something real. I_ want _to tell her something real._

Beebee turned her eyes to the floor, “I killed my sister.”

Jack agitation turned to stunned silence. The confession caught her off guard.

“There were three of us originally.” she elaborated. “I was the middle daughter. We all began serving Master at the same time. A few years ago, he got sick… a rare genetic illness. Incurable, he only had a few years left. He figured out a way to fix it, by transplanting an asari organ into his own body. We… the Asari, have a specialized structure near our heart that repairs our genetic material. We only die when that organ eventually deteriorates after enough centuries. He didn’t want to tell us he knew a cure, but we knew him well enough to be able to tell he was holding something back. It wasn’t very _slave-like_ of us, but we were all so scared, so we pushed him until he told us. And then…” Beebee paused for a long time. “...we did exactly what he was afraid of.”

“You insisted he kill one of you to save himself?”

She nodded, “We were relentless. We’d spent our lives being taught that serving our Master was the highest calling possible. We considered dying for him to be the ultimate act of divine servitude. We begged him, wore him down at his most vulnerable until he finally agreed. I performed the surgery myself. I melded with him to learn what to do.”

“It had to be one of you.” Jack said, “It had to be kept secret. If anyone learned that a human could basically live forever by stealing asari organs, you’d have been single-handedly responsible for a sick new black market.”

“Yeah.” Beebee said, staring off with a blank expression. “We all agreed to it. But I was the one who cut her open. I was the one who made sure she’d never wake up so that we wouldn’t have to watch her slowly fade over days or weeks.” Beebee’s breath caught in her throat.

“You said you had two sisters. What happened to the other one?” Jack asked softly, honest compassion in her voice.

Beebee let out a small laugh. Not the kind that denotes comedy, but rather the kind of laugh signifying the absurd tragedy of life, “Now that’s where the story gets fucked up. It turns out the surgery didn’t work. The organ alone was useless without an asari nervous system to tell it what to do.”

“So you killed her, too.” Her tone was sympathetic, but not without a slight note of accusation.

“No! Master was steadfast. He told us he would never make that mistake again. He said he’d die a thousand times before he’d let another one of us sacrifice herself…” she became suddenly quiet, thoughtful, “... so she killed herself.”

“Christ.” Jack whispered in dismal awe.

“We did the surgery, and he got better. Physically, at least.”

“Do you regret it?”

“I think… if I had the chance to do it again, I’d have tried harder to find another way. Especially with what it did to him. He was broken for a long time, he still is. It’s how we ended up out here among killers and pirates and criminals. But if you’re asking if I’d sacrifice him to get my sisters back, the answer is no. They sacrificed themselves so that I’d get the chance to spend my life with him. And I’ll honor that by serving him as best I can; they’re a part of him now.”

Jack and Beebee stared at each other in silence for several seconds. Eventually Jack broke the silence. “It’s getting late. We should probably turn in for the night.”

“You’re right. Umm, Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“May I sleep with you, please?”

Jack’s face tensed for a moment, as if offended by the implication that Beebee could be next to her while she’s most vulnerable. But then her expression softened. She gestured for the asari to join her on the cot. Beebee smiled as she curled up next to the slender human and kissed her gently on the cheek.

“Goodnight, Jack. Thanks for playing with me.”

* * *

Beebee awoke a few hours later. She had never needed much sleep; in her youth she assumed it was an asari trait, but as she spent more time with her own species in college, she realized that it was simply a unique quirk of her own physiology.

She looked over at Jack, whose sleeping face was contorted into an expression of pained sorrow. _She’s having a nightmare_ , Beebee thought with a sigh. She held the human girl as she panted with fear, whispering words of encouragement gently in her ear until her body eventually released the tension she was holding. Beebee was tempted to join with Jack’s consciousness, just enough to nudge her dream toward a less traumatic place, but she knew that Jack would never forgive her if she entered her private world without permission.

After helping with her new friend’s night terrors, the asari rose and began her morning exercises as she did each morning; a sort of moving meditation that kept her body and mind strong and flexible. Her slow, controlled movements took inspiration from various disciplines ranging from martial arts, dance, and gymnastics, along with the increasingly popular asari trend of yoga. Many of her kind considered it among the most delightful contributions humankind has made to galactic culture.

After about two hours of exercises that would be challenging to even the greatest human athletes, Beebee saw Jack’s groggy eyes slowly open.

“Good morning.” she said in a gentle whisper. Jack blinked a few times trying to comprehend the sight before her. The naked asari was balanced on her hands, facing the floor with knees tucked tightly against her chest; her large, firm tits squished up toward her collarbone. With practiced steadiness, she shifted her weight as her legs extended, inching slowly into a handstand, at which point she reversed this process, bringing her knees slowly back to her chest. She repeated this cycle several times, her balance never wavered, nor did her limbs show the slightest hint of shaking from the strain.

Instead of speaking, Jack merely decided to take in the vision before her with a sleepy smile. She found the coordinated dance of Beebee’s well toned muscles beneath her cobalt-blue skin to be a thing of beauty. Few asari develop their physiques to the point of visible muscle definition; even asari commandos and athletes rely more on biotics and studied tactical skill rather than physical prowess. It was one of the many ways in which Beebee was unique.

“Getting ready for the big fight, eh?” Jack asked.

“Actually, I do this every morning.” Her voice held a slight tension, but didn’t sound strained. “But I’m certainly not going to skip it before fighting the great Commander Shepard. Especially since now I have to win because of you!” she taunted playfully as she got to her feet and leaned against a nearby console.

“Hey now, you got me to do shit that you wanted, too. Fair is fair.”

“Yes, you have to ask a pretty red-head out on a date. You poor, poor thing. How will you ever recover!” Beebee remarked sarcastically.

“Actually, I was talking about the kiss.” Jack said as she stood and faced the sweaty asari. “And… since we’re on the subject, I was thinkin’ that maybe you could help me out with my ‘morning calisthenics.’” Jack’s seductive posture left no room for misinterpretation.

“Yes, ma’am!” Beebee replied as Jack launched her body into her, the asari was knocked back slightly as Jack’s legs and arms coiled around her. Beebee recovered her balance just in time to return the psychotic woman’s almost combative kiss. Her arms hugged Jack’s body tightly against her as she felt her grinding her pussy against the asari’s toned abdomen.

Their bodies were both slick with sweat from the overheated engineering deck, and eventually, Beebee needed to adjust her grip. She lowered her hands to cup Jack’s bare ass to support the woman hanging off of her; she kissed, clawed, and bit at the blue flesh with a raging passion.

Suddenly, Jack’s hands darted up and grabbed a pipe overhead and pulled herself up slightly. “Lick my fucking cunt, you stupid bitch!”

Beebee was giddy by this point, and dropped to her knees, flipping Jack’s thighs onto the top of her shoulders. The human’s heels dug into her back as she pushed her crotch forcefully into the slave’s face. She opened her mouth and forced her long tongue as far into the tattooed woman’s hole as it could go. She heard Jack moan, and felt the buttocks cupped in her hands tense.

With Jack supporting most of her own weight by holding onto the pipe overhead, Beebee slid one of her hands up the sweaty, slick body to reach the petite girl’s small, perky breasts. For a brief moment, she considered raking her fingertips in elegant circles, teasing her with sensation before stimulating her nipples. Instead, she took a cue from Jack’s violent style of love-making and gripped one of her tits forcefully, as though trying to get the last bits of juice from an orange.

“Ahhh! FUCK yes!!!”

Encouraged, Beebee continued the rough treatment of her lover’s body as Jack basically fucked herself on Beebee’s skilled tongue. The kneeling woman switched hands, reaching up to dig her digits into the other breast as her remaining hand was occupied massaging small circles around Jack’s anus with her fingertips.

“GRRRAH!!! YES! Finger my ass you little whore!!!”

With permission granted, the sapphire slave jammed two fingers into Jack’s tight asshole and started thrusting. The moans coming from above her were increasing in intensity. They quickly turned to breathless groans as Jack reached the edge of orgasm. She was finally pushed over the edge when Beebee added a third finger in Jack’s ass; the small, unlubricated hole surely hurt at least a little, but by Jack’s reaction, she loved the pain. For a moment she was breathlessly silent as her entire body tensed, then suddenly a series of loud, shouting moans as her body writhed frantically. After several seconds, the spasms subsided, and she gently lowered her slender body into the kneeling slave’s strong arms.

“You’re good at that.” Jack remarked through panting breaths.

“You’re so forceful! Never change.”

They held each other and caught their breath for several seconds.

“Everything still feels… tingly down there.” Jack said almost as a question.

“Have you never fucked an asari before??” Beebee’s eyes widened in surprise. “My species isn’t known for being especially frigid.”

Jack still took audible breaths, not yet recovered from the powerful orgasm. “Of course I have, but I’m usually drunk or something. This tingly shit is an asari thing?”

“Asari body chemistry is a bit more acidic than most species. That means our bodily secretions are very slightly corrosive. The way most species experience it is a mild tingling sensation. It’s also why our hygiene requires less upkeep.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Neither of us have had a shower in days, and you still smell like…” Jack inhaled through her nose, “furniture polish or something.”

Beebee had an expression of bemusement, “Do you mean lemons?”

“Yeah, whatever. I just smell like sweaty ass.”

The asari couldn’t rightly argue, the smell and taste of Jack’s skin had taken on a slightly ‘sharp’ quality, to put it kindly. “Well maybe I happen to like the smell of sweaty ass.”

“Is that so?”

“I like _your_ sweaty ass.” she said with a tone that was playfully romantic. “But we should both try to find a way to handle our hygiene; if I smell sour, that’s a definite sign that I need to clean myself.”

“Well, until then, whadya say we go for round two?”

“Hmmm, I suppose there’s no point in a shower unless I’ve _really_ gotten dirty.” A toothy grin formed across her face.

“On your fuckin’ back, whore.” Jack said with a sadistic smile. She was beginning to enjoy the uninhibited way that she could command the beautiful asari slave.

Beebee obeyed and Jack stood, she stepped onto the asari’s firm abdomen, using it as a step to bring her feet to either side of her new fuck-pet’s head. She had turned so that the blue flesh was laid out in front of her. She widened her stance and squatted, bringing her spread ass down to Beebee’s lips. The asari made out with Jack’s sweaty asshole with a passion uninhibited by a sense of shame or dignity.

She knew Jack wanted to conquer her, to hurt her, humiliate her. _Please make me your bitch!_ the asari begged inwardly. As though responding to her pleas, Jack brought her full weight down on Beebee’s face, now using the girl’s head as a living stool. She ignored the pain where the back of her head pressed against the metal deck, and the sting as the tips of her tendrils were uncomfortably bent. She focused instead on the pleasure her tongue could give Jack’s ass.

The slim human gripped Beebee’s nipples hard as she leaned back, using her tits to keep from falling off. She began to writhe violently as the the statuesque asari tongue-fucked her asshole, each movement resulting in a painful yank to the tender indigo-colored areola. The girl yelped in genuine pain as Jack twisted and yanked rhythmically; were she less experienced with enduring erotic torture, she’d have sworn that the girl was about to yank her nipples off. Beebee’s trained mind could easily observe the pain in her body without being overcome by it, the sole focus for both women was Jack’s pleasure, and Beebee was glad that her pain could provide it.

“Keep your tongue in my ass, you dumb cunt!” Jack commanded as she shifted forward, her head came down between Beebee’s legs; for a moment, the asari believed that she was going to go down on her, but instead was a sensation like hot knives as Jack’s teeth clamped down hard on her inner thigh. It felt hard enough to draw blood; she wasn’t holding back. Beebee’s heart fluttered as she sensed the passionate jubilation that only comes with the realization of completely uninhibited sexuality. She loved seeing that moment, when someone lets go of hesitation and realizes that she’ll never say no, never say it’s too much, never say stop. 

“God, that feels so good when you scream!” Jack said before biting her again, this time her teeth enveloping the upper half of her vulva and the lower part of her mound. The slave screamed again with pain as the teeth clamped down, her lips and tongue still air-tight against Jack’s anus.

Suddenly Jack stood up, she could see a hateful fire grow in her eyes. She kicked Beebee hard in the cunt. She yelped and responded by spreading her legs wider. Jack continued kicking her in the crotch; she began to speak, kicking her between every few words.

“You really are”

“Uggh!”

“a pathetic”

“Ugghuh!”

“little”

“Ahh!”   
“whore, aren’t you?”

“Oww!”

She leaned over and spit in Beebee’s face. “Get up!”

Beebee did as ordered, daring not to wipe the saliva from her face. Her eyes watered with pain, but inwardly, she was in heaven. Without warning, Jack backhanded her across the face. Just as she recovered, the woman’s palm collided with her other cheek. Her face stung as Jack’s fingers wrapped around her neck, lifting her onto her toes. _Oooh, she’s skinny, but she’s strong!_ Beebee thought as breath became more difficult to draw. The girl’s palm harshly slapped the underside of the asari’s heavy breast before moving to the other and doing the same. Beebee struggled to breathe as her tits were being savagely beaten.

Suddenly, Jack’s grip on her neck released. But just as she thought the beating was over, she saw a fist reading ‘DEATH” charge toward her face. She heard the sickening crunch of her nose breaking before she felt the pain. Her vision blurred as tears filled her eyes.

“SAY YOU LOVE ME NOW!!!” Jack screamed at her. Beebee was suddenly concerned that some of her new lover’s inner demons had taken over in the heat of passion. Perhaps it _wasn’t_ such a good idea to let Jack be completely uninhibited. Regardless, Beebee didn’t want her affections to be questioned for an instant.

“I love you, Jack.” she said with heart-stopping sincerity, as purple blood dripped over her lips. There was silence for a moment, she had to blink away tears to perceive the expression on the human girl’s face, but it was an expression of confusion and awe. It looked like she was about to speak when they were suddenly interrupted.

“Hey! What the hell is going on down here!?” Shepard demanded as she descended from the upper deck.

Beebee spun, revealing her bloodied face and an expression like a child caught stealing cookies.

Shepard’s eyes widened, “Jack, what the hell do you think you’re-”

“It was consensual!” Beebee blurted out. “Jack and I were just doing some… uhh… morning calisthenics…” she struggled to flatten the ear-to-ear smile that tried to emerge as she used the euphemism, “and we got a little carried away, that’s all. I swear!”

Shepard seemed satisfied with the explanation, though obviously not happy about the situation. Before returning to the upper deck, she added, “Well maybe before your next round of ‘morning calisthenics,’ you can remind yourselves that this deck isn’t soundproof.”

“I’ll make sure to discipline our new crewman if she makes a racket, Commander!” Jack replied with a sarcastic salute. Shepard merely rolled her eyes as she climbed back to the upper deck.

After she left, Beebee turned to Jack, “Going to tie me to the mast and giving me forty lashes with the old cat o’ nine?”

She cocked her head and stared with a befuddled expression.

“Umm, you used to be a human pirate, and it was a joke because a few hundred years ago-”

“No, I know about pirate history. Hell, Ching Shih’s my personal hero. I’m just not used to an asari knowing so much about humans.”

“It was a bad joke” she said with an apologetic smile, “I’ve spent a lot of time studying humans. And my Master has spent a lot of time studying asari. Neither of us grew up around our own species, so we decided to immerse ourselves in our cultures when we got to college. But since we were each more interested in the other than we were in ourselves, we kinda got it backwards.”

“Right…” Jack sighed, “I’ve got to keep reminding myself that this is all pretend. You don’t really belong to me. You’re going home to… _him_ when this is all over.”

Beebee considered her next words carefully, “I will be going home to Him, yes.” The reverence in her voice was apparent when she spoke of her master, “But that doesn’t mean I need to leave you. Come with me.”

“What? And be a slave? No offense, but I’d rather eat a bullet.”

“No, not a slave. Just keep being who you are. Things have been getting dangerous for us lately, and it’s been difficult for us to keep fighting by ourselves. You could help, you can be His second in command. You suggested it yourself yesterday.”

“Yeah? And how’s he going to feel about me fucking his little slave girlfriend?”

“He’s not cruel, Jack. And he’s not jealous. If you’re part of our team, he’s going to want us to be happy. I love you, I truly do. If you love me back, than my Master would want you to join us. It could be the three of us together against the galaxy.”

“Yeah, I’ll admit I’m fallin’ for you, too.” There was a long pause, “Shit, I can’t believe I just said that.” Jack stopped awkwardly for a moment, as though stuck in thought. “Hey, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, but can we just walk this back for a little while. This has been a lot of fun, but it’s starting to get into serious terroritory real fuckin’ fast.”

“I live for a thousand years, Jack. Take as much time as you need.”

“Thanks. And, uhh, sorry about the nose, and all the ‘stupid whore’ talk. And the gun thing yesterday.”

“Oh, don’t you dare start feeling guilty for showing me a good time.” Beebee said with a wink. Though she winced as the jolt of pain reminded her that her nose was still broken.

“Yeah, let’s find someplace where we can get you cleaned up, ass-breath.”

With that, Jack dressed and the pair climbed to the upper deck where Beebee retrieved some medi-gel for her nose and other tender areas. Upon informing Shepard of their intentions, she offered to join them in the expedition, saying that she had some business on Omega she wanted to handle before the ‘performance’ later that evening.

***

The three women embarked, Jack informing Shepard that she was going to go off with Beebee to find them some accommodations with a shower and proper toilet. Shepard nodded as she headed off towards the markets.

It took a while for Jack and Beebee to find what they were looking for. Omega wasn’t exactly a tourist destination, and as such, it wasn’t particularly easy to find rooms to rent. Eventually someone directed them to a Batarian man who they were told might be willing to rent his apartment to the women for a night.

“So what’s your price?” Jack asked the man.

He eyed Beebee up and down, “Tell you what, give me a few minutes with this one and we can call it even.”

Beebee stepped forward and draped her arms around the batarian affectionately. “That works for me.” She turned to address Jack, “With your permission, of course.”

The batarian’s face had an expression that said _I can’t believe that actually worked,_ while Jack seemed half-amused, half-repulsed by the situation, “Hell, I’m not going to stand in the way of your, uhh, chosen career. You go ahead with…”

Before Jack could even finish her sentence, the bataran had placed his hand on the top of Beebee’s head and was directing her face toward his crotch. She knelt in the grungy, semi-public corridor and began to undo his pants with a smile.

Jack began, “Well I’ll give you two some priva-”

“No!” the man interrupted, “I want you to stay and watch.”

Jack rolled her eyes with annoyance, but folded her arms and leaned against the wall across from them. Beebee had adjusted her posture to face Jack as she pulled the man’s floppy phallus from his pants. She made eye contact with her as her hand skillfully moved up and down the ribbed cock as it stiffened. She winked, as though suggesting that what was about to happen next was a performance intended just for her.

The batarian penis was a long thick cylinder coming to a rounded point, the shaft covered in semi-hard ridges that Beebee knew could actually be quite pleasurable. The asari slave opened her mouth, and forced the full length down her throat in a single motion, her nose coming to rest against the fingers she had wrapped around the base. She withdrew just as swiftly, turning her eyes back toward Jack with a flirtatious smile.

The cock once again disappeared into her mouth, Beebee ensured that it entered with such ease that it almost seemed to belong there, as though her throat was a cock-holster custom made for him. Beebee took his hand and placed it on the back of her head, giving him control over her depth and rhythm. At the same time, she twisted her body and spread her knees to ensure Jack got a good view of her kneeling cunt and tits.

Her breasts swayed as the man roughly fucked her face, Beebee ran her free hand over her body, stimulating and displaying herself for Jack’s viewing pleasure, the other hand still jacking the man off into her mouth.

Suddenly the man clutched the back of her head with both hands and forced her face down onto his cock so hard that it made her still-healing nose ache from the pressure with which it was forced against his pants. Beebee instinctively dropped her hands behind her back, thrusting her tits out as she allowed the man full control to ejaculate down her throat. He groaned loudly for a few seconds before finally taking a deep breath. The asari whore made it a point to swallow loudly as she slowly withdrew his softening member from her mouth. She rose back to her feet as the man caught his breath, she thanked him sincerely for cumming down her throat. Still recovering, he drew the keycard from his pocket and handed it to her.

Beebee looked back over her shoulder at Jack with an expression of pride. Jack stood there smirking, obviously impressed with her new friend’s little performance. The two of them used the keycard to make their way into the nearby apartment.

Beebee was first to activate her Omni-tool, she informed Shepard that they’d acquired a room and sent her the waypoint, explaining that she could come by to freshen up whenever she was ready.

Jack stripped her clothes and made her way toward the shower, Beebee began to follow her.

An abrupt glare stopped Beebee in her tracks, “No hard feelings, but I need some time alone to think; we said we’d turn down the heat between us for a little while, anyway. You should focus on fighting Shepard.”

“Oh.” she replied trying to hide her disappointment, “You’re right. You said you’d help me figure out how to win. Are we doing that next?” she asked, taking a step back to sit on the bed.

“Yeah, I just… need some time to think.”

Beebee nodded, and Jack proceeded, alone, into the shower as the asari sat patiently waiting her turn. She wondered how she could hope to defeat Shepard in hand-to-hand combat without using biotics against her. Beebee had never watched her fight, but if she was even half as good as people said, she wouldn’t stand a chance. Still, she had agreed that she would try as hard as she could to defeat Shepard. If she did, she’d end up sexually dominating the hero of the Citadel in front of a crowd of horny criminals. She had mixed feelings about that. It was a delightful concept in theory, but in practice, it may be harmful to their working relationship, and to her efforts to locate and recruit Morinth. Of course, the information that Aria would be giving to Shepard regardless of the outcome could be disastrous to her mission as well. What would she say if Aria’s intel showed that she was hunting Morinth. Could she come up with a convincing lie to make the intel seem innocent? Could she somehow get her hands on the information before Shepard? Would Aria keep the secret on her behalf, and if so, what would she expect in return? If the worst were to happen, and Shepard found out everything, what’s her escape plan? Could she get Jack to come with her? Her mind kept rotating through one worry after another.

After about half an hour, Jack finally emerged, rubbing a towel on her dripping-wet skin. Beebee had a passing thought that she took an unusually long time in the shower for a woman with no hair.

“You’re up, lemon fresh.” Jack said.

With that, Beebee put the thoughts out of her mind, making an agreement with herself that she’d return to them when time permitted. Jack had left the shower running, so Beebee merely had to step beneath the warm water. She rubbed her hands over her scalp, and then down her face and neck. She gently dipped her fingers beneath the segmented band of metal that adorned her neck to allow the water to wash away any residue beneath her collar. She did the same when she reached the matching bands around her wrists and ankles. In total, she only spent a little over five minutes letting the water stream down her naked flesh. Her firm, asari skin required little effort to clean.

She exited the shower and dried herself off. She was finishing just as Jack had laced and tied her boots.

“Come on, let’s train. I know a good place to let loose and wreck some shit.”

Beebee followed her out of the apartment and through a series of halls and elevators. Finally, they reached what appeared to be an unused slum of Omega. There was a relatively wide corridor with what appeared to be some empty barrels and crates. A group of vorcha seemed to be either gambling or arguing a few dozen yards away, but the space seemed otherwise devoid of personnel.

“So I’m assuming you got the basics of biotic shit down, so whatya got in terms of hand-to-hand?”

“Oh.” Beebee said, knowing her answer would bring an amused smile to Jack’s face, “I know Kung Fu.”

The anticipated smile appeared, Jack briefly shook her head at the amusing absurdity of an alien trained in Chinese martial arts, “Of course you do. All right, let’s see what ya got.” Jack’s fingers curled into a fist.

Beebee turned to the side, shifting her weight to her rear leg and bringing a loose tension to her arms and hands. Suddenly, Jack’s right fist shot toward her. With practiced instincts, Beebee diverted the punch, stepping outside and behind the slender woman. However, she was caught off guard when her opponent’s left elbow shot back and drove itself into the front of her ribs just below her left breast. She barely had time to process the pain before she felt Jack’s ass driving into her thigh, knocking her off balance as she reached up behind herself, grabbing Beebee by the head and using it as a handle to throw her over Jack’s shoulder. Beebee landed flat on her back, somewhat embarrassed to be bested so easily.

“Try again.” Jack commanded.

Beebee ignored the pain in her rib and stood, once again assuming the stance she was trained to do. She kept a little bit more distance between her and the petite warrior-woman this time.

Jack advanced again; Beebee launched her foot towards Jack’s head with what she thought was lightning speed, yet when it arrived at its destination, she found that Jack had her ankle gripped firmly between her hands and her own booted foot was heading directly toward her crotch. The kick was hard enough to lift her remaining foot off the ground; a fact which Jack took advantage of by pushing her forcefully backward.

Wanting to impress her new combat instructor, rather than falling on her back again, she performed a graceful roll and came right back up onto her feet, ignoring the explosion of pain in her groin. She saw Jack advancing and shifted her weight, her body spun with her heel coming around like a whip towards where she believed Jack’s torso would be. However, in the brief instant she lost sight of her opponent during the spinning kick, Jack had ducked down, grabbing the ankle on which she balanced and yanking it out from under her.

While she knew that this was meant to be a learning experience, she couldn’t help but feel slightly distressed at being so easily defeated. She’d been taken off her feet three times in the last twenty seconds, two of which happened in the last five. If it were a real fight, she’d have been killed.

“Ya know, you’re actually pretty good.”

“Recent events would beg to differ.” Beebee replied as she lifted her bruised body back onto her feet.

“Hey, if you think you’re going to beat me one-on-one you may as well challenge a krogan to a drinking contest. But I’m serious, you know your shit, you’re just a little slow.”

Beebee briefly considered a bit of good-natured verbal sparring with her new friend, _it’s easy to be quick when you’re like ninety-five pounds,_ she said in her head. Thinking better of it, she simply replied, “So what do we do about it?”

“I know you haven’t spent much time around the asari, but the shit I’m gonna show you is standard training for commandos.” Jack said, “You’re pretty good at controlling your biotics, right? I know you didn’t grow up on Thessia, but you still meditate, don’t you?”

“Of course, I’d say that I’m better than most at controlling my biotic abilities, but how would that help me beat Shep-”

“Just hear me out.” Jack looked around before walking in the direction of an empty barrel. “That barrel there, can you throw it, let’s say ten feet.”

Beebee was slightly confused, but obeyed regardless. She drew energy from her body, directing it into her hand. Blue cascades of light wreathed her fingers as she fired a bolt at the empty barrel, hoping she allocated just barely enough kinetic energy to move it ten feet and no more.

The ball of light struck the barrel and it leapt off the ground like a startled cat, coming to rest about eight feet away and rolling another four before finally coming to rest.

“Perfect.” Jack said with an approving smile. Beebee waited for her to explain. “Now I’m going to come at you again, and this time I want you to use your biotics. Except, instead of throwing a barrel, I want you to throw yourself.”

“Throw myself?” The realization dawned on her. If she directed her biotics inward, into her own body, she could enhance her own movements! When she was falling to the ground after Morinth threw her from the window, she used biotics to slow herself down, how did she never think to use them to speed herself up??

Jack advanced toward her, Beebee quickly gathered energy in her right hand, but rather than shooting it out, she released it back up her arm. She tried to do a spinning kick, but ended up simply corkscrewing up a couple feet into the air like a mannequin with a rocket strapped to its arm.

Disoriented, she fell to the ground trying to figure out which way was up as Jack laughed shamelessly at her. She joined Jack in laughter as she waited for her dizziness to wane.

“I think I need a bit of practice!”

***

Shepard stood waiting for them in the private room adjacent to the fighting pit. The long day’s training had taken a toll on Beebee, but she was healing fast. _Thank god for Medi-gel!_ She thought.

The space served as a holding area for fighters. Dimly lit, with relatively spartan decor, a few seats upholstered in dull black leather, sparsely stained with blood.

“Five minutes to show time.” Aria announced as she entered the room. “The two of you had better be ready to put on a good performance.”

Beebee knew the Pirate Queen of Omega well enough to know that the vague threat was her way of wishing them luck.

Shepard summoned her over to a bag she’d placed on the table. She seemed uncharacteristically timid. “Hey, so I kinda did some shopping to prepare for… after. I just figured that I should uhh… Well, you’re the expert.” She opened the bag and Beebee gasped with delight. Her hand shot into the bag and pulled out it’s contents for all to see.

In her hand was a large black dildo, about ten inches long and almost as thick as her wrist. Attached to its base was a strap-on harness. “I love it!” Beebee exclaimed as Shepards cheeks began to redden. Aria was going over final arrangements on a datapad, but Jack simply leaned against the wall with a smirk.

“I mean, is this the kind of thing that uhh…”

Beebee interrupted her by placing her free hand on Shepard’s cheek and staring into her eyes, “If you win, I want you to think of the most disgusting, degrading, uncomfortable things you can think of. The kind of stuff you’d only see in the dirtiest, most shameful underground porn vids… and then I want you to do something worse.” Her face wore a big grin as she gave Shepard the invitation to violate her.

Jack interjected, “Don’t think you have this one in the bag, Shepard. I’ve been givin’ blue here some pointers all day.”

“Is that so?” Shepard folded her arms in a cocksure posture, “You think she has a chance?”

“She almost landed a hit on me a couple of times. Takin’ you down should be a piece of cake.”

“Wouldn’t be fun if it wasn’t a challenge.” Shepard replied.

Shepard began to undo the semi-casual outfit she’d been wearing and placing it neatly on the table. A few moments later, she had stripped down to a pair of grey boy-shorts and a matching sports bra.

 _Whoa._ Beebee mouthed the word as her eyes widened. The vision of Commander Shepard so...exposed. It made her heart feel soft and her skin feel warm.

“People out there get a look at ya in that get-up and they’re gonna ask for their money back. What’s a matter, granny-panties in the wash?” Jack teased.

Beebee, however, happened to think that the image before her was one of the sexiest things she’d ever laid eyes on. This was a living legend in her natural state. She could have been wearing lingerie, a latex thong, but those would just be a costume on her. The plain, sporty undergarments were her truth. She was transfixed by the vision before her.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jack’s glancing back at Aria. “Shit, both of you? Fuckin’ asari.”

Beebee turned in response to Jack’s comment to see Aria with the same expression of lovestruck awe. She was practically drooling. She noticed Beebee’s cheeky smile and narrowed her eyes briefly, as if daring her to acknowledge what she’d just seen.

Shepard pulled a thin black balaclava over her head, concealing her identity, but leaving her eyes exposed. “Okay, let’s do this.” The two combatants proceeded out toward the arena.

“Hang on a sec.” Jack said suddenly, grabbing Shepard by the arm just before she stepped out the door. “I’ve been givin’ it some thought and uhh, shit I guess I’ll just say it. Do you wanna go out sometime?” 

Taken aback, Shepard replied, “Did Beebee put you up to this?”

“This isn’t about her. I’m doing this because _I_ want to. So whadya say? Should be a good consolation prize after my girl pounds your ass out there.”

“Uhh, sure! You figure out a time and a place and I’ll be there.”

Jack sent Shepard on her way with a supportive slap on the ass as she made her way into the fighting pit to the roar of the crowd. Beebee joined her a second later, the pitch of the audience increasing as she made her way into the center.

A deep batarian voice suddenly echoed through the speakers of the large room. “Please welcome your entertainment for this evening. First up, a newcomer to the arena! Give a round of applause to … The Specter of Death!

Upon hearing her stage-name announced, Shepard pounded her chest before pumping her fists in the air. The crowd seemed rowdy. Some cheered, some booed, several made obscene comments and gestures toward her.

“Next up” the announcer continued, “coming out of retirement to fight for the pleasure of Omega, you know her, you love her … Bitch Breaker!!!”

Beebee struck a series of flirtatious poses, still showing not one iota of modesty, even as hundreds of horny outlaws leered at her naked body.

The two women made their way to opposite sides of the rectangular arena. The audience was packed in like sardines in the bleachers that surrounded them. It was a big room, though not huge. Only room for a few hundred people at most, plus a few cameras hovering discreetly in the corners above those sitting in the top row. In Aria’s typical aesthetic of menacing hedonism, the walls of the fighting pit were decorated by sheets of flame.

Beebee spied Aria finding her seat in a reserved area just above the room they had just exited. Directly beneath her, Jack watched from the edge of the short corridor.

The sound of a bell being run three times rang out and the fight had officially begun.

The two women circled each other. Shepard stayed light on her feet like a boxer. Beebee, however took each step deliberately, ensuring a proper martial stance. She intended to keep her distance from the human; make Shepard come to her.

She let Shepard close the gap somewhat, Beebee had to see what she had going for her. The pink-skinned fists shot towards her head, she managed to narrowly evade the first couple of jabs, but the body blow that sent sharp daggers of pain into her ribs made full contact.

Beebee stepped back, catching her breath from the punishing strike. _Damn, she hits hard!_

The power behind her strikes was impressive, but it came at a slight cost of speed. Shepard was naturally a bit faster than her, but not quite even with Jack. She tried to draw on the day’s training with a smaller, faster opponent. Jack was nimble, Jack was quick. A sudden amusing thought invaded Beebee’s mind, _Jack jumped over the candlesti-_

Shepard's fist collided with her face, breaking her nose for the second time that day.

 _Right! Focus on the fight._ It seemed like that was Shepard’s biggest advantage, she was always focused on the fight. Even after Jack’s date invitation, it was apparent that the Commander was still laser-focused on winning. She wondered if Jack had chosen that exact moment to ask her out as an attempt to distract her and give Beebee an advant-

A roundhouse kick collided with the asari’s ribs in exactly the same spot where she’d been punched a few seconds before. The impact nearly knocked her off her feet, and the pain that followed nearly buckled her knees, but she managed to stay on her feet.

 _Stop! Thinking! About! Jack!_ Beebee admonished herself. Her hand went to what she assumed was now a couple of cracked ribs. It hurt, but she was feigning being in more pain than she actually was. She focused inwardly, gathering biotic power and directing it toward one of her feet.

Suddenly she dropped down as Shepard advanced, as if collapsing in defeat, but instead her foot spun around in an inhumanly fast spinning sweep. Her leg connected with the human’s ankles, and her body whipped to the ground as her feet were suddenly flung into the air. Beebee rose suddenly and leapt toward the supine figure, intending to stomp her heel into the woman’s sternum.

Instead, she found herself in a sudden leg-lock, with Shepard’s arms gripping her ankle and her legs wrapping around her lower limb, immobilizing it.

 _I haven’t been doing yoga for over a century just to be stopped by a joint-lock_ , she thought as she contorted her body in a way that even a gymnast would have thought looked uncomfortable. Her leg nearly dislocated, she proceeded to repeatedly backhand Shepard in the face, blood beginning to leave a wet-mark in the black mask. Shepard released the limb and the two women rolled back up to their feet.

The human’s vision was obscured by tears on account of the repeated strikes to the nose. _Now’s my chance_. She turned to the side and concentrated her biotic strength into her hips. Her body charged across the arena and with a sudden super-powered sidekick her foot smashed into Shepard’s torso like a freight train. She flew back several feet, bouncing off of the flame covered walls and collapsing in a heap on the metal floor.

She waited to see if Shepard would stand up, but she appeared to be out cold. A warm feeling of pride welled up in Beebee’s torso, but it suddenly turned cold as she noticed that not only was Shepard not moving, she also wasn’t breathing. _Uh oh._

“We need a doctor, now!” She called out. Aria stood and nodded to someone nearby. A few seconds later, an asari and a salarian rushed out into the arena and fussed over Commander Shepard for several seconds before carrying her past Jack back into the private room adjacent to the fighting pit. Beebee tried to rush in behind them, but found that the force of her final kick had seemingly cracked a few bones in her own leg. Still, she limped in, her face contorted with worry and guilt.

They laid the limp body of Commander Shepard on the table and began work. Several seconds later, she still wasn’t breathing. There was a sickening pit in Beebee’s stomach and tears began to well up in her eyes.

“Is she going to die?” Her voice was almost frantic.

The salarian responded, “What? Oh, no. Of course not. Her organs are largely synthetic. In fact, if she had any more implants, she wouldn’t need a doctor, she’d need a mechanic.”

“So she’s…”

“Going to be fine.” the asari doctor assured her with a comforting voice. “She’ll be a hundred-percent in less than ten minutes, I’d estimate. Her synthetic systems are already self-repairing.”

Biavalia released the breath of air that had been tensely held in her lungs. She was relieved, both to know that Shepard was going to recover, and strangely, that she was a cyborg. She’d felt a bit guilty about secretly using biotics to enhance her movements. She was only using them on herself, so she wasn’t technically violating the rule forbidding the use of biotics on one’s opponent, but it was still a bit of a cheat. Knowing the Shepard kept her status as a partially synthetic lifeform a secret made her feel justified..

Slowly, Shepard’s vital signs appeared to normalize. A few minutes later, she regained consciousness and sat up, cradling her aching head in her hands. She looked around, the realization that she’d been defeated slowly dawning on her.

“Shit, I lost?”

“Afraid so.” Jack replied with a satisfied grin.

Shepard turned to Beebee, “So that means that you’re going to… how’d you put it? Do stuff from the dirtiest underground porn vids?” Her posture was slumped, no doubt from disappointment about the fate she’d failed to protect herself from.

Biavalia felt guilty. She admired Shepard and by the look on her face, she genuinely didn’t want this. A part of her wished she’d never let Jack dare her to win the fight.

“I can make it easier for you. I could, go into your mind. Teach you how to enjoy it the way I do?” The look the Commander shot back at her made it clear that the suggestion offended her. “Just a little! Temporarily! No lasting effects, I promise.”

Shepard stood and took a step toward her. “I don’t know. Letting you play around inside my head? I’ve seen what you’re capable of, you could turn me into…” _into me_ , Beebee thought the words Shepard was too kind to say. Knowing that Shepard felt such disdain made her want to cringe.

“Come on, Shepard,” Jack cut in, “Don’t you have enough bull-shit in your past to deal with? If she has to ream your ass out while you’re kicking and screaming, it’s gonna mess you up for a long time.” Jack’s eyes shifted sideways, it was as if she was looking back at her own haunted past. “Trust me on this, if she has a way to take the shame away, you should do it.”

She considered for a moment. “You’ve seen what she can do, Jack. What she can turn people into. Would you trust her inside your mind?”

Jack looked back and forth between the two women for a moment, before finally looking straight at the Commander, “Actually, yeah. I would.”

There was silence for a few seconds. Then finally, “Okay, that’s good enough for me. Beebee, do what you have to, but keep it to a minimum and only as long as we’re out there. I guess it’ll be interesting getting a taste of what it’s like to be you.”

“I promise that I’ll be gentle… with your mind, at least.” With that, she stepped forward, still slightly limping. Her fingers caressed Shepards back as she lovingly hugged her. Her temple gently grazed the human’s face before she whispered in her ear, “Embrace eternity.”

***

Shepard crawled out naked, save for the black mask that hid her identity. She was led on a leash carried by the now black-eyed asari; a plain, chrome collar adorned the Commander’s neck. Beebee was wearing the strap-on cock that Shepard had bought earlier that day, back when she didn’t expect to be on the receiving end.

A pair of cargo containers had been brought out to either side of the arena, each containing various implements of sexual torture and humiliation. The front of the balaclava Shepard wore had been pulled down so that the eye-slit now exposed the mouth, but at the cost of her vision. Beebee explained that the sensory deprivation would make it easier for her to see through the asari’s eyes during the partial meld; allowing her to borrow Beebee’s shamelessness and, if needed, to temporarily move her consciousness completely out of her own tormented body.

“It seems that our little Specter of Death here bought this nice big cock, back when she thought she was going to be the one to wear it!” Beebee announced loudly to the crowd as she waggled the big rubber phallus lewdly. The crowd laughed and mocked the naked human, eager to see her violated.

“It seems like this little human cunt could stand to be taught a little humility.” She went on, her tone one of a delighted sadist. “So how about this, little Specter,” she said, turning her attention to the woman crawling next to her, “This can all be over as soon as you say the words, ‘Mistress Bitch Breaker, I’m your broken little bitch. I beg you to please show me my place by fucking me up the ass with my own cock.’”

 _Is that really all it’ll take?_ Shepard telepathically asked the woman whose consciousness she was sharing.

 _We still need to put on a good show for these nice people, you can’t give in_ too _easily._

“On the floor, human! Tits up!” Beebee growled in her still-girlish voice.

She hesitated, momentarily in defiance, but finally she complied. She laid down on the cold metal floor, her modest breasts and neatly-groomed auburn pubic hair on display for the audience above.

The asari took a small remote that she’d clipped to the belt of the strap-on harness and pressed a button. Shepard heard a firm “clank!” as the silver collar appeared to magnetically bond to the floor. Her hands instinctively came up to yank at it, but found no give no matter what.

_Keep struggling, that’s perfect!_

Shepard watched through Beebee’s eyes as she went to one of the containers and took two smaller bands of metal. Those were for her wrists. The asari dominatrix came back and wrestled the cuffs onto the thrashing human.

Clank! Clank!

Shepard’s bondage was becoming more restrictive, as now her arms were magnetically affixed to the floor. She struggled in vain, kicking and thrashing as though panicked about what would happen next.

In truth, however, most of Shepard’s consciousness was with Beebee. The struggling creature bound naked to the floor was operating mostly on lower brain-functions, primal instincts. Shepard could feel it; every sensation and thought was still hers, but the expansion of her nervous system allowed her to rise above it and see it from an observer's perspective.

Beebee caught a thrashing foot and clamped yet another metal band around it. However, with this limb, she pushed it upward, toward the supine human’s head. The ankle magnetically bonded with the floor like the previous three, leaving Shepard doubled over. The final restraint was wrestled into place and with one last “clank” she was completely immobilized.

The back of her head and shoulders were against the floor, her arms stretched out to either side like a “T.” The front of her ankles were spread and forced against the floor just past her head, with her knees nearly resting on her own shoulders. Her lower body was folded up with her pussy and asshole obscenely thrust toward the ceiling.

 _It’s just your body, Shepard._ Beebee reassured her, sensing the humiliation rising. _Everyone has one, there’s nothing shameful about people seeing your body._

She was, for a moment, tempted to argue; but joining minds with the exhibitionist asari allowed her to set her modesty aside and recognize her physical exposure for the trivial thing it was.

Beebee returned to the container and pulled out a thick leather strap. She walked slowly around the bound human, like a shark circling its prey. Suddenly she stopped and squatted on Shepard’s face, the blue cunt pressing against her pink lips, as the end of the rubber phallus plopping down between her tits.

She rubbed the handle of the strap against Shepard’s labia. “I bet you’re hoping that you’ll get some pleasure out of this, aren’t you? You’re hoping that I’ll use this hole.” She still spoke loudly, ensuring the audience could clearly hear the sadistic dialogue. “Well I’m sorry to say” she said rising and taking a step back, “this hole is only for winners.” Her arm suddenly wound up like a pitcher’s and the tip of the heavy strap smashed down against her exposed vulva.

WHAP! The sound echoed through the room, even amidst the clamoring of the crowd.

“RRRRGGH!” Shepard grunted through clenched teeth at the sudden fire in her loins.

_Wow, most people would be screaming their heads off from a lash like that._

_It’s just pain. I can handle pain._ Shepard’s mind replied.

“Are you ready to say it now, human?” She asked as the pink flesh between the woman’s legs turned bright red. “No?”

WHAP!

Another full force blow landed on Shepard’s already swelling cunt. “Maybe this human is simply too dumb to remember what she’s supposed to say!” Beebee announced to the crowd. “Well let me remind you.”

“If you want this to stop, all you have to say is: ‘Mistress Bitch Breaker,’

WHAP!

“‘I’m your broken little bitch.’”

WHAP!

“‘I beg you to please show me my place’”

WHAP!

“‘by fucking me up the ass with my own cock.’”

Shepard’s cunt was now turning a darker violet than the deep stripes that adorned Beebee’s cobalt-colored skin. Still, though she was being savagely beaten on her most sensitive area, she managed to make no sound other than a pained grunt as she endured each blow.

“What’s the matter, Specter? The strap not good enough for you? Such a greedy little slut!” She turned toward the crowd. “Typical human!” She said as though it was a punchline, “Always asking for more.”

She unceremoniously tossed the strap to the ground and retrieved a menacing looking rod. It was metallic black, a bit longer than her forearm, and it’s end was tipped with two curved prongs.

She returned, gently caressing her pink calf with the tips of the instrument. Slowly, she teased her way down to the soles of Shepard’s feet. There was a sudden hum as Beebee compressed a button on the handle.

“AAAH!” Shepard finally exclaimed as white-hot pain exploded up through her leg. Every muscle in the affected limb felt like the most intense cramp she’d ever experienced, magnified a thousand-fold. It was so intense that even the half-second burst had left her light-headed.

Shepard felt more shame at having cried out than she did about anything up to this point. Her heart raced as she perceived Beebee moving the torture-rod to her other foot.

That same high pitched hum.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHAAAHHH!!!” Shepard heard Beebee’s mind count a full three seconds as she held down the button. She panted as the blinding pain in her leg slowly turned into merely an insistent throb. She sensed that Beebee was impressed.

_Never met a human who could take so much. Even some turians would have lost consciousness after that._

_Like you said,_ Shepard responded, _we have to put on a good show._

The telepathic conversation managed to distract Shepard from the pain and humiliation her body was experiencing. But the asari was unrelenting. The prongs of the device pressed into her swollen pussy, just to each side of her clit.

That damned whining hum. Shepard’s mind instinctively fled from the pain. She watched from inside Beebee’s mind as the human figure beneath her screamed almost loud enough to tear her larynx. The undignified human screeched and thrashed against the sturdy metal bonds. Finally, the device was pulled away and her body went limp, save for frantic panting.

With horror, Shepard felt her body lose control of her bladder, as drops of urine pushed out from between her swollen cunt lips and splashed on her face below. Still tightly bound, she merely scrunched up her face, clenching her lips tightly.

“Oh, you’re not getting off that easy!” Beebee said as she bent down just as the trickle turned to a stream. She opened her mouth, as though drinking from a fountain as Shepard’s piss poured into her. Her cheeks bulged as she sealed her lips, holding the salty yellow liquid. The stream continued to pour out as the Commander was forced to empty her bladder onto her own face.

When the trickle finally finished, Beebee bent down and took a firm grip of her top and bottom lip, she pulled them apart painfully. Shepard, knowing what she intended to do, clenched her teeth in rebellion. She kept pulling, almost hard enough to tear the flesh. Finally, the human gave in, allowing her mouth to be pried open just long enough for Beebee to spit the fresh urine from her mouth into her victims. In an instant, she’d pressed her hand against her lips and pinched her nose. Unable to fight back, Shepard, in a moment of burning humiliation, was forced to swallow her own piss in order to earn the right to breathe. She nearly threw up as the hot salty liquid was welcomed down her throat.

 _What the hell, Beebee!!!_ Her mind shouted.

 _Just think of it like really bad tea._ The asari replied.

_This has gone far enough!_

_As you wish, Commander._

Beebee mentally held her hand as she said the words she knew would end this.

“Mistress Bitch Breaker…” Shepard began with a defeated sigh. “I’m your broken little bitch. I beg you to please show me my place by fucking me up the ass with my own cock.”

Beebee looked to the crowd with a delighted smile as they cheered her conquest over the arrogant human. Suddenly she held up a hand to quiet them. “Now before I grant her request, I think my opponent deserves a round of applause for holding out so long. After all, half of the people in the crowd tonight have begged me to fuck them and the only pain they were afraid of was the pain of loneliness.” She pushed out her lips into an exaggerated pout. Her girlish teasing seemed to drive the crowd wild, and Biavalia clearly loved the attention.

She grabbed the base of the ten-inch dildo affixed to her waist and waved it around playfully as she returned to Shepard’s side.

 _Any chance you have practice stretching your anus?_ Beebee’s mind asked.

_Actually, that’s always been off-limits for me._

_Well… sorry in advance for this._

Beebee began to push the tip of the big, rubber dildo down into Shepard’s tight asshole. She could feel her recoiling from the pain and humiliation.

_Just try to relax, Commander. Here, maybe this will help._

The asari placed her hand gently atop Shepard’s pubic mound. Then slowly, deep inside her vagina, beyond her bruised and swollen labia, she felt a sort of pressure forming. Beebee was using her biotics to create a sort of pulsating sphere inside of her. The sphere began to vibrate, sending energized pulses of pleasure through her nerves. A fluttery heat seemed to concentrate at her g-spot. For a moment her body tensed, but the sudden pleasure allowed her to ease, and the large, artificial cock was thrust fully into her bowels. The pain was still immense, her sphincter still felt as though it would rip, but she was somehow able to take pleasure in the pain.

She began to moan as the cock slipped in and out of her dry, stretched asshole; her tender ring catching and being pulled with each withdrawal. Through Beebee’s eyes, she could see that her anus had, in fact, ripped slightly, as streaks of blood smeared across the shiny rubber surface. Though the lubrication it provided happened to actually lessen the discomfort slightly. Her ass was starting to become accustomed to the bulk thrusting in and out of it, and she was able to focus on the pleasure being biotically projected into her cunt.

A part of her was tempted to enjoy this more than she was able. Her mind asked Beebee to borrow her shamelessness briefly, a request she gladly granted. Shepard suddenly began to moan loudly, wanting the crowd to know that she was enjoying herself. She was naked, being ass-fucked with her own blood as lube, for a crowd who’d just watched her drink her own piss. In that moment, that thought thrilled her more than she could imagine. She was shocked to feel an orgasm building quickly inside of her. Beebee felt it too, and responded by redoubling her efforts to stimulate her body.

The spherical energy-ball of pleasure grew both in size and intensity. Simultaneously, the asari wreathed her entire body in a blue glow of cascading light. A tingly vibrating feeling that was like thousands of hot little fingers gently pinching her every erogenous zone. The pain faded away as she was wreathed in unfathomable pleasure. A slow-motion explosion began in her cunt and spread out until it reached the surface, tensing every muscle and turning her skin to fire. Her voice caught in her throat as the cataclysmic orgasm overtook her. For several seconds she couldn’t breathe. When finally she was able to draw air, there was a long, desperate gasp followed by a series of loud, almost screaming moans that progressively waned in intensity until Commander Shepard was a panting puddle of flushed skin and abused holes.

Beebee stepped back with a satisfied smile and pressed a button on the remote. The magnetic restraints all released at once and the Commander’s body was once again her own. Though she didn’t appear to want to use that power to do anything but lay there with a weary smirk as a small puddle of blood formed beneath her gaping asshole.

Beebee offered a hand to help her up, which Shepard took. The asari put an arm around her to steady her balance as the two of them walked back into the side room to the sound of the cheering crowd.

Shepard plopped down face-first onto a couch as Beebee finally disengaged their meld. She removed the strap-on phallus, casually cleaning the filth off of it with her mouth before returning it to the Commander’s bag. Shepard was once again in complete control of her mind and body.

“Commander, are you doing all right?” Jack took a knee next to Shepard, her expression one of genuine concern.

The weary-looking woman slowly stood and began to dress. “Yeah, I’m all right. That was…” she took a deep breath. “...an experience I want to follow up with a drink... or ten.”

“Well I’m picking up the tab tonight, girl-scout. You really took that like a champ.” Jack turned to Beebee, “Man, you were brutal!”

“She got off easy. I’m usually not so nice.” Beebee replied.

“You made me drink my own urine.” Shepard glared.

“Which you learned to do in survival training, no doubt! Besides, if I wanted to be mean, I would have had you drink mine.”

“Would that have been worse?” Shepard asked exhaustedly.

“Oh! You’ve never…” Beebee looked slightly taken aback. “I mean, you’ve been with asari before. A few, based on what I hear. You’ve never smelled when we ummm…” The blank faces made her need for elaboration clear. “Well, as I was telling Jack recently, asari physiology is very mildly corrosive, which means that we stay very clean inside and out. The one exception is that our liquid excretions-”

“Biavalia!” The stern voice of Aria T’loak silenced Beebee in an instant. “I know that you didn’t grow up with your own kind, but you should still know that there are some things that aren’t discussed with humans.”

The slave hung her head and stared at the floor as Aria continued, “Shepard, I’ve sent the list directly to your Omni-tool, as promised. That was quite the show, glad to see you finally cut loose a bit.”

“Memorable as always, Aria.” Shepard replied with a somewhat dismissive sarcasm.

“As for you.” the Queen of Omega turned to address the passive slave. “You performed… adequately.”

“Thank you, Queen Aria. I’m glad that my performance was able to please you enough to escape your punishment.” She replied in a timid, yet bubbly voice. Beebee knew that Aria’s greatest joy came from sadism. Her own greatest joy came from pleasing others. As such, she often tried to give the Pirate Queen some minor justification to “discipline” her.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.” There was a menace in Aria’s voice that both terrified and thrilled the naked slave. Still, they both knew that this was only a game.

Shepard had dressed and was just snapping the last bits of her hardsuit in place. She shared an amused glance with Jack as they observed the sadomasochistic foreplay between the pair of asari women. “Whatya say we grab that drink and give these two some privacy to do whatever the fuck it is they plan on doing with each other.

“Right behind you, Jack. Oh, and by the way,” Shepard said, turning back to the blue skinned women, “I don’t give a damn what you do in private, but from now on just keep my name out of it.”

Beebee’s eyes widened in shock as the door slid closed after Shepard. Her mind flashed back to that moment the previous day when she’d casually joked about Aria calling her Commander Shepard while rimming the Pirate Queen’s ass. At least she played it off as a joke at the time, she had no idea that the Commander might think there was some truth to it. She had even less of an inkling that she might actually mention it in front of Aria T’Loak.

_Uh oh._

She dared not lift her gaze from the floor, yet she could still feel the fury behind Aria’s eyes. An awkward silence seemed to go on for ages as the powerful woman’s stare felt like it’d melt her skin. Suddenly a pair of men stormed into the room, throwing a bag over her head and carrying her to some unknown location. She heard Queen Aria’s boots thudding purposefully behind her.

She knew that she’d fucked up. She’d revealed something Aria T’Loak would have preferred to keep hidden. She dreaded what was to come. It had been a long day, and she just wanted it to end. Her mind briefly escalated from dread to horror as she considered the possibility that Aria wouldn’t let her see the day’s end. She tried to reassure herself. _I’m part of Commander Shepard’s crew right now. Queen Aria would never kill one of Commander Shepard’s crew… would she?_

She felt herself being put down on the floor. She was placed standing, yet the bag over her head kept her in darkness. She began to turn her mind inward to cope with her rising fear, _Calm yourself and accept whatever is to come. Observe your pain, observe your fear and release them when the time comes for them to pass. Suffering comes from the desire for what is not. Peace comes from the acceptance of what is._

“I was a Commando for centuries, I know how to subvert your little meditation tricks.” Aria’s voice approached her, she felt a sudden pinch on her neck as a hypodermic needle forced some mysterious liquid into her body. Within a few seconds, her body felt agitated, her mind unfocused. No longer was she able to use her trained mind to rise-above herself.

“That body Trainor gave you is an insult to our kind. Are you so ashamed of being asari that you need to look like this mockery of a woman?”

Beebee panted, unsure of how to respond. Her mind was too scattered to be able to deal with the flood of anxietizing thoughts racing through her mind.

“Looking at those ridiculous tits offend me. Cover them up, now.”

Beebee clutched her hands over her nipples, hoping that her immediate compliance would be enough to get her out of this. She heard the man to her left picking up something metal. The muffled sound of ripping flesh reached her brain a fraction of a second before the feeling of hot, molten agony.

The bag was suddenly yanked off her head and she screamed as she looked down see a long horizontal rod entering her body through one wrist just past her metal cuff, into the deep flesh of both of her breasts, and exiting out the other wrist. The two men quickly attached a chain to either end, which she was terrified to realize attached to a winch above her which was now being activated.

The metal rod skewering her wrists against her tits began to pull her feet off the floor.

“No No NOOO! PLEASE!!! AHHHH!!!!”

Without her sense of inner stability, the horrifying predicament was inconceivable to her. She had the choice either to hold the bulk of her weight on her skewered wrists or relax and let the rod rip an even wider hole through the center of her breasts.

“ARIA!! PLEASE! I’M SORRY! JESUS FUCK!! PLEASE!!! PLEASE!!! AHHHH!!!

She was pleading and begging desperately. Her disorganized mind could think of no better course of action. She looked to Aria as her savior, the one who could stop this in an instant. She had her back turned, but that didn’t stop Beebee from begging.

“ARIAAAAHUHUHUH!” She wept openly as she called her name.

Suddenly, Aria turned around to face her, but instead of seeing mercy, Biavalia saw the barrel of a pistol in the pirate queen’s hand. Her body froze in terror.

There was jarringly loud POP as the pistol fired toward her.

“AHHH!!!” Her body jumped in terror as she felt the bullet whiz by the side of her face. The sudden jerk on her skewered body parts bringing a fresh wave of pain.

“It seems that you’ve forgotten that part of the job of a whore is discretion.”

POP!

Another bullet narrowly missed Beebee’s terrified and shivering body.

“If you can’t do your job…”

POP!

“Then what was I paying you for?”

Beebee’s face was a mess of tears, twisted into an expression of pleading mortal terror. Her body shivered with fear, and she was crying so hard that she could barely draw breath.

“You know, that thing he made between your legs. To make you look like a human…”

POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP!

Beebee closed her eyes as Aria’s expert marksmanship ensured every bullet got within millimeters of her skin without actually hitting her.

“...truly disgusts me.”

The voice came from just in front of her. Beebee didn’t want to look, but prayed to whatever force could hear her that if Aria could see how much she was suffering, that she’d let her go. She looked down just in time to see the red-hot barrel of the pistol coming up between her legs. The two men on either side of her pulled her legs open before she had a chance to react. She heard the skin of her surgically formed labia begin to sizzle as Aria pressed the overheated weapon against her sensitive skin.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Her scream was piercing, and Biavalia was convinced that the only reason Aria stopped is because the pitch of her screams was physically uncomfortable to listen to.

“Let her down.”

The winch slowly allowed her thrashing feet to touch the ground. The men undid the chains on either end of the metal rod, but let her figure out how to remove the rod herself. She took a deep breath and pushed her right wrist off the end of the metal skewer. The pain was immense, but at least she had control over it. Next, the left hand. She mewled pathetically as she looked at the holes in her limbs and then down at the hunk of metal still buried through her tits.

She took several quick breaths and braced herself for the pain. She yanked hard and screamed. The pain was enough to buckle her knees. The tip of the long rod just barely emerged from one side. One more yank and the horrible torture implement would be out of her body. She was worried that she’d pass out from the pain, but she was eager to finally be done. A final pull, a scream, and the clattering of the long skewer as it hit the ground. She collapsed to catch her breath and looked up at Aria, who appeared to be sipping a drink, indifferent to the horrible agony she’d inflicted on the slave.

Several seconds passed before Beebee finally climbed back up to her knees. Her mind was feeling a bit more focused now, though the insistent, throbbing pain on her blistered vulva was taking more of her attention than she’d prefer.

“Th- Thank you, Queen Aria… for reminding me of my place.”

She stood, glaring down at the tear and blood-stained slave. Purple rivulets dripped down her arms and torso. “The next time you make me pull a gun on you, I’m not going to miss.”

She pointed the pistol at the kneeling slave and pulled the trigger one more time. Beebee felt an impact on her right shoulder and a new stream of blood dripping down her arm. She was horrified; sexualized torture was one thing, but for some reason actually shooting her represented a hostility she’d never experienced before.

“You shot me!!! Oh my god, Aria! You actually shot me!”

She looked up at her, expecting a response. But Aria T’Loak simply poured the last of her drink down her throat and walked away.

Before the door closed behind her, the asari doctor who had treated Shepard earlier rushed in to tend to her wounds. She reassured her that the gunshot merely grazed her. Explained that the puncture wounds were easily repaired. The burns on her vulva were the most serious, but even those were only superficial. The doctor said that if the burns were severe, they wouldn’t have hurt so much.

Beebee found the woman to be a skilled physician. Most likely, this was Aria’s personal doctor, so she was glad to be in good hands. She said she’d been given instructions to ensure that she was back to full health, that Shepard was not to know anything that had happened in that room. Beebee nodded, agreeing to keep the secret. She wasn’t about to make that mistake twice.

After about forty-five minutes of having her wounds tended to, she made her way to the the main room of Aria’s club to find Jack and Shepard. They were sitting at a bar, a pile of disorganized shot-glasses adorned the counter in front of them. She approached the duo just as Jack fell off her stool and writhed weakly on the ground. She rushed forward as she heard the rowdy, drunken voice of Commander Shepard call out to her.

“Hey, Biahhhvalalia! Jack, Jack here says that she could drink me in a beating contest. Wait, thass not right. She says she could out-drink me at a drinking… We drink a lots and I winned! I tole her I always am the winner!” It was at that moment that Shepard fell backward, joining the passed-out Jack on the floor.

Beebee sighed as she looked down at her two companions. She scooped up Jack and threw her over her shoulder. She didn’t want to leave Shepard passed out in a bar on Omega all by herself. She looked around to the others staring at the spectacle. “Free blowjob to anyone who helps me carry the redhead back to our room!”

***

Back in the room, the two humans had been laid down on the bed and Beebee wiped her mouth as she finished “thanking” the last of her helpers.

“It doesn’t seem like it should have taken four of you to carry one woman, but whatever.” Beebee said hastily, wanting to bring this exceptionally long day to a close.

“Oh, she was a lot heavier than she looked, ma’am.” One of the men replied.

The asari wished them well and closed the door.

She was tired, but there was still one last thing she needed to do. Examining the two humans, it appeared that they were unlikely to stir.

A tap and a twist on a particular segment of her left cuff revealed a wire that she stretched out to connect to the unconscious Shepard’s Omni-tool. She needed a direct line to bypass the device’s biometric security.

For once, she’d actually been honest about her technological prowess. But still, she was underestimated. Her girlish voice and bubbly personality kept others from seeing how cunning she could be. Her perpetual nudity made her seem vulnerable, yet the cuffs and collar that were her only adornments were actually her masterpiece as an engineer, providing her with more tactical advantage than most armed and armored soldiers.

It took her less than five minutes to gain access. Shepard appeared to be out cold, but still, she felt compelled to rush.

_Found it!_

The message from Aria T’Loak came up on her screen.

A sorrowful gasp escaped her throat. _Aria, how could you?_ She thought.

> Shepard,
> 
> I’ve included the full intelligence report below, but here’s the quick version:
> 
> There here have been a handful of reported murders over the last few months that fit with the M.O. of an Ardat-Yakshi. A few days after each one, witnesses reported an asari showing up at bars and clubs nearby; they described her as tall and athletic with big tits and little to no clothing. Going after Morinth wouldn’t normally seem like the kind of thing the Trainor would have Beebee do, he’s a careful man and it’s too reckless for him. But from what I hear, the other slavers in the system are closing in on them and he’s starting to get desperate. If it is the two of them behind this, then Morinth probably slipped through their fingers and they’re using you to draw her out. If that’s the case, let me know and I’ll take care of the executions for you. Beebee is useful, but my partnership with you is too important to let a whore and a slaver get in the way.
> 
> However, there is someone else who’s a close second. A slaver named Silas Bernstrom popped up a few years after Trainor. Another human who employed asari to train slaves. He tried to compete, but his “product” never quite measured up. An asari can only share what is in her own mind, and let’s just say that what goes on in Beebee’s head is pretty unique as far as asari go. He’s wealthy enough to hire people to do his dirty work for him, and several of his people were spotted around Morinth’s crime scenes as soon as word got out. Bernstrom might have figured that having an Ardat-Yakshi in his employ could be his ticket to usurping Trainor as the king of the slavers.
> 
> There are a couple of other noteworthy suspects. Delan Tiran is a ruthless salarian pirate with a hunger for power and a tendency to “compel” individuals of talent to do his bidding. Capturing Morinth and then leveraging that acquisition to capture you and Subject Zero would not only be within his capabilities, it’d be consistent with his style. There’s no evidence that he was following Morinth, but if it _was_ him, he wouldn’t leave any.
> 
> Last is an asari warlord known as The Eye of Extinction. She’s known to capture and use soldiers as involuntary mercenaries to carry out contracts. If someone has a shit-load of money and wants to see an entire colony, tribe, or minor civilization wiped from all living memory, The Eye is who they’d look for. I don’t know much else about her and I don’t want to know. If your mission takes you in her direction, all I ask is that you erase this message and any record of its transmission.
> 
> Aria T’Loak
> 
> [FILE ATTACHMENT: INTELLIGENCE REPORT-OMEGA:37-421.6(MORINTH)]

Beebee took a moment to think. _Whoa, there’s a lot to unpack there._ She spent a few more minutes hacking into the code which would allow her to modify the message, figuring that she’d decide what to add, change, or remove once she was able to.

 _Silas Bernstrom_ , she thought. She’d heard the name before. He was a colleague of her Master years before they’d become slavers. They worked together researching asari genetics as it relates to biotic and telepathic abilities. Silas was the only other human researcher on the team, which caused him to glom onto her Master. He didn’t care for Silas Bernstrom much, preferring the company of asari, and was relieved when the man was fired for ethics violations. Beebee had heard that her Master had a copycat, but didn’t realize until now that it was Silas.

 _This could be exactly what I need._ She thought. _It would make sense that Master would send me to track down the copycat. If his people were pursuing Morinth, I can claim I was pursuing them._

Her eyes reviewed the message again. Delan Tiran, she recognized that name, too. Of all the times that her and her Master had fallen short of their aspirations of ethical slavery, selling that quarian girl to Delan Tiran ranked among the greatest failures. Delan had posed as a studious salarian starship engineer. Seemingly a perfect match for their recently “rehabilitated” quarian pirate, Sholi’Far Vas Terminus. It was only much later that they learned that Delan had used Sholi to design and control an army of artificially intelligent mechs that he used to inflict his reign of terror upon anyone who dared defy him.

The Eye of Extinction was unfamiliar to her. However, the way that Aria wrote made it seem like she was afraid. The idea of someone who frightened Aria T’Loak would have made Beebee shit her pants if she’d ever worn any. Deleting that section of the message was the first decision she made.

She needed to consider what to do about Silas and Delan next. Silas was undoubtedly one of the competitors who threatened the safety of her and her Master. And given that he apparently _was_ actually pursuing Morinth as well, there was a non-zero chance that he may have actually succeeded where she had failed. _He might actually have Morinth_ , she considered. She decided to leave that section unaltered. Whether or not he has her, Shepard would likely take him down, so it’d be a win for Beebee and her Master either way.

Delan Tiran would be a formidable opponent, but he was also part of a mistake that she’d desperately like to undo. When she had trained Sholi’Far, Beebee had turned her from a cold, calculating criminal into a sweet girl who delighted in using her technological prowess to please and impress others. The idea that she was forced back into a life of crime sickened her, but until now, she had no way to undo it.

So it was decided, Silas and Delan would stay in the message, if only so that Shepard would help her tie up these loose ends.

 _But… as long as I have Shepard and Jack to help with the dirty work…_ Beebee thought with a devious smile as she added two names to the list, both competing slavers whose elimination would aid in her own chances of survival. She was careful to try to match Aria’s writing style. Even more careful to try to ensure that the rather dry and detailed Intelligence Report attached to the message backed up the story told in the summary. She covered all her tracks, triple checked to ensure that there were no mistakes and finally detached the wire synching her Omni-tool with Shepard’s.

After having hunched next to the bed for so long, she stood and stretched briefly. She looked at the two passed out women on the bed and decided to squeeze in between them and go to sleep. After one of the longest days of her long life, Dr. Biavalia Bi’tarah was glad to end the day in the arms of people she loved.


	6. Chapter 6

All For Nought (Chapter six)

Commander Shepard woke up to a throbbing clamp of pain across her temples. The dry soreness in her throat and eyes reminded her that she’d drank to excess the previous night. Forcing her eyes to acclimate to the dim, yet still stinging light, she examined the small apartment that she assumed was the one mentioned to her the previous day. The fact that Jack lay passed out beside her confirmed the suspicion. She closed her eyes again and replayed the previous day’s events. Somehow the public humiliation she had suffered at the asari’s hands seemed almost forgettable; it had no more impact on her psyche than the porn vid that had once played in the background while her and Liara made love. She supposed that Beebee’s melding was responsible for that, sex and depravity was standard operating procedure for her. For a moment, Shepard considered how odd it was to be able to shrug off such an intense and intimate violation. She then considered how odd it’d be for civilians to learn how often her and her team shrugged off deadly firefights without a second thought. Her train of thought ended when she decided that it’s possible to get used to anything and that there was no point in looking a gift horse in the mouth. 

She forced her hungover body to stand and made her way to the kitchen, where she turned on the faucet and gulped several handfuls of water from her cupped hands. That made her feel a bit better. Once on her feet, her mind almost immediately turned to the mission.  _ Rescue Morinth. _ She had put her ass on the line to help Shepard fight the Collectors, and she’d be damned if she was going to leave a former crewman high and dry when they needed her most. 

Aria’s Intel report should be waiting on her Omni-tool. She opened the message and blinked a few times while her eyes adjusted to the amber light. A few sentences in, her eyes went wide. She closed the message and immediately drew the M-5 Phalanx pistol still holstered at her hip from last night. Beebee hadn’t been there when she woke up, but Shepard didn’t think much of it until just now. She moved swiftly through the small dwelling, checking the handful of closets and alcoves that might have been able to hide the asari. When she was satisfied that she and Jack were the only sapient beings there, she did a quick scan for traps or proximity mines. Never could be too careful. 

Once satisfied, she returned to the message. Her racing heart pounded on the back of her eyes like a drum, but she needed to read the rest of the message so that she could relay a semi-coherent situation report to Jack. Human slaver Silas Bernstrom, Salarian pirate Delan Tiran, Volus pornographer Bin Risal, Asari slaver Phaia T’nell.

“Jack, wake up.” 

“Uuugh, go fuck yourself, Shepard.” 

“Aria’s intel report implicates Beebee. She was gone when I woke up. We need to gear up and move out to find her right. fucking. now.” 

That got Jack’s attention, she easily shook off the last vestiges of sleep and was on her feet faster than Shepard would have expected. “What the hell do you mean it implicates her?” Jacks voice was a weary growl. 

“I’ll brief you on the way, if we’re lucky she hasn’t managed to get off--”

Shepard spun around, pistol drawn, as the door whooshed open behind them. 

“So I know humans like chicken eggs for breakfast, and I’m told these taste similar, just don’t ask what animal they came out--” 

Startled, Beebee dropped the tray of food as she saw Shepard’s fiery gaze boring into her from above the barrel of a gun. The asari’s bright, bubbly voice turned to girlish panic, “Shepard! What’s going on?” 

“Why were you after Morinth!” The question came as an accusation. Jack stood ready nearby. 

“Wh.. what? I’d never even heard of her until I met you!” A quick breath and the girl calmed herself, no doubt an ability honed by a century of meditation practice, “There’s a misunderstanding, Commander. Please lower your weapon so we can talk about this. I…  _ REALLY  _ dislike being shot.” 

Jack cut in, “She brought us breakfast, Shepard. It really doesn’t look like she was running.” 

The Commander lowered her aim to the floor, but didn’t return the pistol to her hip. “Over the last few months, every time there’s been a murder with the M.O. of an Ardat-Yakshi, you’ve shown up a few days later.”

Beebee’s hairless brow furrowed as her eyes darted back and forth. She looked confused, as if trying to piece something together. “It was him.” she finally whispered under her breath. 

“Who?” Shepard demanded. 

“I don’t know his name. But a few years after Master and I came to the Terminus Systems, we caught word of another human slaver who tried to use asari melding to train slaves. A copycat. He had the money to hire thugs and asari to act as slave-trainers, but he still couldn’t do what I can. We didn’t worry about him until he started passing off his own broken slaves as ours. He was trying to discredit us, so Master asked me to try to find him. When I got word that one of his agents showed up at some bar or club, I went there myself to either seduce them or trail them back to the source. I didn’t have much luck, I’m afraid.” 

“Does the name Bernstrom mean anything to you?” 

There seemed to be a lightbulb moment in Beebee’s mind. “ _ Silas _ Bernstrom?? Of course, that would make sense.” 

“I thought you said you didn’t know his name.” 

“I didn’t know it was Silas. Out of the tens of billions of humans across the galaxy, I figured the chances of the copycat being someone we knew were quite small. But, it makes sense. He worked with my Master doing medical research on asari genetics. When it was discovered that he was secretly attempting experiments to use asari telepathy as a mind-control technique, he was fired. He had enough family money to keep himself from being incarcerated for the illegal research, but he vanished after the trial.” 

Shepard heard Jack’s voice from behind her, “So this Silas guy sees Morinth as his white whale. The ultimate in asari mind-control.” 

“So that’s who we’re going after.” Shepard said, finally holstering her M-5 Phalanx. She noticed Beebee looking down at the ruined breakfast on the floor with a pout. “Sorry about that.” She added. 

“It was hard to get.” The asari seemed disappointed that her thoughtful gesture went to waste. She knelt down to clean it up with a sigh. A few awkward moments passed “Silas Bernstrom collects books.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“Books, from Earth. Old ones, the kind that are made out of paper. Pretentious shit that he is, he thought it made him seem  _ sophisticated _ .” 

Shepard thought for a moment, until Beebee’s meaning became clear, “There can’t be many merchants shipping old Earth books to the Terminus Systems…” she opened her Omni-tool and began searching the extranet. 

“I narrowed his location down to somewhere in the Vallhallan Threshold.” Beebee explained helpfully. “If we can find the merchant, maybe we can ask them if they sent a courier there.” Beebee added as she scooped the last of the mess into the sink.

Jack, seeming to realize her skills weren’t currently needed, curled up behind them on the bed to rest. 

Biavalia and the Commander spent the next couple of hours doing some detective work; with Shepard eventually using her connections and reputation to get a message to the owner of an antique book-store back on Earth. The man sent his shipping records willingly. Eagerly, in fact; the only thing he asked for in return was a brief interview with Shepard for a book he was writing on modern galactic history. 

His shipping records showed one customer in the Vallhallan Threshold. Two deliveries over the last year, both to the same location on the same planet. 

“We’ve got him!” Beebee exclaimed. Her excitement seemed to rouse Jack, who had been sleeping off the last of her hangover.

“Looks like it’s time to finish up here and move out.” Shepard opened a comm to Melok and asked him to be ready to depart in the next five minutes. Biavalia contacted the batarian who rented them his apartment, and Jack splashed some water on her face. 

The batarian met them just outside, at which point the asari returned his key and gave him a long hug as thanks. 

“Seems like you’re pretty cozy with batarians.” Shepard noted sharply as they made their way to the docking bay. 

“I grew up around batarians. My father was batarian. Although the ones back home were very religious. It was a bit of a surprise to learn how crass mainstream batarian culture is.” 

“No one on Aria’s list of suspects was batarian.” she said thoughtfully. She knew batarian slavers, hated batarian slavers. Ever since they’d rained down fire and death on her friends and family on Mindoir. A part of her was disappointed that this mission wouldn’t allow her a little payback. 

“Who was on the list?” 

She figured there was no point in hiding it from her. She was supposed to be their guide to the slavers and deviants of the Terminus Systems, after all. “After Silas, it’s Delan Tiran, Bin Risall, and Phaia T’nell. Do you know them?” 

“I do. They’ll be easier to find than Silas, but harder to take down.” 

_ Good,  _ Shepard thought,  _ she’s proving to be an asset.  _ They made their way to the ship and gave Melok their destination. At which point she gathered the three-woman squad in the cargo-hold and asked Beebee to brief them on what they’ll be walking into. 

“It’s hard to say,” she began, “Silas never seemed like a fan of direct violence, so I doubt that his security will be especially heavy. It seems like he guarantees his safety by being difficult to find. He works through agents the way the Shadow Broker does. However, I recall he tends to have a high opinion of his own intellect. So his security would probably be something… clever. A trap, or some gadget. Who knows how far his research into mind-control has gotten. As I said, he comes from a wealthy family, so he could have a lot of resources at his disposal.” 

“What are ya thinkin’? Mechs? Turrets? Shit like that? I can turn those fuckers into a pile of scrap without breakin’ a sweat.” Jack seemed eager for a good fight. 

“Maybe.” Beebee’s voice trailed off, she seemed doubtful. “More likely… something new.” 

“We’ll be ready.” Shepard said.

***

The planet itself was somewhat arid, but the multi-acre plot of land that contained Silas Bernstrom’s home and research facility was meticulously terraformed. 

“Pretentious shit.” Beebee whispered to herself as they cautiously approached the verdant field of non-native plants and flowers. She had refused weapons or armor, claiming that she doubts they would run into a problem that could be solved by shooting it. In Shepard’s experience, quite a lot of problems could be solved by shooting them. She suspected the refusal had more to do with a squeamishness about the concept of killing. 

“Beebee, what’s your gut telling you?”

No response, she was simply starting at a trellised vine covered in some ugly, spiky fruit. She had a bitter look on her face.

“Beebee!” Shepard insisted. 

The asari seemed startled. “Sorry, I was just… these are ignac cones. We had them on the colony where I was born. This whole garden looks inspired by the ones that me and the other Sacred Slaves tended to back on Vehshara. Master and I had a miniature version at the home where we lived when Silas knew us. I just… I had no idea he had such an obsession.” 

“Focus on that later, let’s just get into that facility to look for Morinth.” 

“Morinth, right, of course.” she still seemed distracted as she casually strode toward the flat steel building in the distance. Her naked, blue ass was a distraction as well, but she’d seen enough of it by now that she barely noticed the peculiarity of her perpetual nudity. Though few things are as distracting to an enemy as a naked asari; Shepard hoped that might give them an edge. 

Finally they reached the entrance without incident. Shepard moved to the door panel to override the lock. She realized that Jack was in position, staying low with pistol drawn. Beebee, however, stood like a lost child; she almost looked in danger of wandering off. 

“Biavalia! Get your head on straight!” Shepard hissed. The asari blinked a few times and seemed to collect herself. 

“Sorry, this place is just bringing back a lot of strange thoughts. I’m solid now, Commander.” 

Shepard gave a nod of acknowledgement and began to breach the door. An empty room. The three of them stalked slowly through it, then down a long corridor. Another door, Shepard opened it.  _ Not  _ empty. 

“Fall back!” Shepard pointed her M-22 Eviscerator shotgun as she walked backwards through the long corridor. Jack stayed by her side. She was expecting to hear commotion on the other side of the door; shouting, gunshots as the people on the other side of that door began firing at then. But nothing. 

Beebee walked forward, there was something unsettling about the way she moved, like a sleep-walker. She entered the room and looked back at them. That’s when Shepard saw it, her eyes were black! 

Jack spoke first, “Hey, Bee! You all right?” The asari just seemed to wonder in a daze, indifferent to the question. “Shit!” 

Shepard and Jack moved forward cautiously, the large room was mostly empty, save for four clusters of personnel that seemed frozen like statues. At the center of each cluster was an asari. Eyes fully darkened into inky black pools. On either side of each were soldiers of various species. Mostly turian, but a couple of batarians, and one krogan. All staring forward at nothing. All of them emanating a barely visible blue aura. 

“What kinda weird shit was this guy into?” Jack asked as she kept her M-6 Carnifax trained on the cluster nearest to her.

Beebee seemed to shout at no one, “What? I don’t think I should!” she was looking around, as if searching for the source of an invisible voice. “Because they’re my friends.” she answered as if in reply. Her face began to seem pained. “I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t… Please don’t make me!” 

_ Something is controlling her! Controlling all the asari here!  _ Shepard thought. She put her gun away and rushed to the struggling girl. “Beebee! Stay with me. You need to fight it!” 

“I need to expand my mind, it’s so constricting to have it all in my own head.” She spoke as if in a trance. “Others need to embrace it. I have to make them embrace it. We need to meld, we need to be together, we need to serve together.” 

Their eyes met, and Shepard felt a pressure inside her thoughts. It wasn’t like any melding she’d felt before. It wasn’t a joining of natural thought. This was organized, synthetic. Like a computer virus converting her mind into a subordinate system. 

“Fight back!” she shouted. She wasn't sure if she said it with her mouth or her mind, but that was the singular thought she held. The thought was like a rope she grasped to keep her from being sucked into a void. She could sense Beebee holding onto it, too. 

A voice came from what seemed like light-years away. “Don’t make me do this.” It was Jack, aiming at Beebee’s head. “Come on! Please just snap out of it!” 

Tears were flowing from Beebee’s wide, black eyes now, she was panting frantically. Shepard felt her mind fighting against the invader. She sensed a turning point. For a moment the blue aura that enveloped her turned almost blinding white and exploded out from her like a shockwave. 

Shepard found herself on the floor. Her head ringing like a flash-bang had just detonated next to her. She realized that everyone else in the room seemed in the same predicament; the living-statues seemed shaken from their trance. 

“Run!” Beebee shouted at them. “Get out of range before it takes you again!” The group stampeded out the door, eager to reassert their freedom. Soon her and Jack were the only ones left in the room with Shepard. Beebee seemed to be swiftly re-programming something on her Omni-tool. She saw the thin electric line of her kinetic barrier’s deactivation sequence slide up across her, and then a green line went down as it reactivated. 

“I set my shields to block telepathic signals. Although they’re useless against projectiles now, so I’m going to be relying on you two to keep me from getting shot from here on out.” Beebee explained. 

“What the hell just happened?!” Jack shouted, returning to her feet after the biotic blast. 

“Best I can guess, Silas figured out how to make a machine that taps into asari telepathy. I think he was experimenting to see if he could turn the asari under his control into mobile carriers of whatever mind-control program he was using. He’d be in control of the asari, the asari would control the non-telepathic species. A mind-control hierarchy with him at the top. I figured if I overloaded the network, it’d take a little while for the machine to recalibrate for each asari mind. It seems to have a limited range, too. It wasn’t until I got into this room that I realized that my thoughts were getting more and more scattered.” 

“Could he be using Morinth as part of this machine?” Shepard asked. 

“Definitely possible. The range of influence seems similar to that of an Ardat-Yakshi. He could be using her as a central hub for his machine.” The idea seemed to make her a bit anxious. Shepard couldn’t blame her, she wasn’t exactly at-ease with the idea herself. 

There were two doors at opposite corners on the far end of the room. Shepard decided to take the left. She was on point with the vulnerable asari in the middle. Jack took up the rear position. 

Half a dozen meters into the corridor it turned right, and looped back around to the room they came from. “There should be a room here.” Shepard commented as she searched for an entrance. The corridor made a U shape around a large space just behind the wall where the tranced people had been standing. It’d make sense that that’s where the mind-control machine, and hopefully Morinth, was being held. She scanned with her Omni-tool, finally discovering a false panel that covered a blast-door. Her and Beebee stood back as Jack biotically yanked the panel away. Beebee then rushed forward to override the security on the door. It opened and they rushed in. 

“-extraction now! Oh god, they’ve breached the door! Send someone or else my research will-” 

Silas was stopped short when Jack biotically flung him against the wall. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the symbol on the vid-screen he had been frantically talking into. A mark like a long, cradled hexagon. Cerberus!

“You’re working for Cerberus!?!” Jack shouted with the fury of a vengeful valkyrie. “I’ll rip you to fucking shreds!!”    


Shepard rushed forward to stall her hand. “We need to find out what he knows first!” 

Jack growled through clenched teeth, but finally, reluctantly, let him down. Silas wasn’t an intimidating man. He was middle aged, thin, and bald. Yet somehow smug even in the grip of fear. Shepard looked around at the room. It was circular and lined with terminals of seemingly varied purpose. In the center was monolith-like machine with a glowing blue orb at the top. But no Morinth. 

Shepard addressed the smug, cowering scientist. “I’m looking for an Ardat-Yakshi, if you can tell me where she is, maybe I can talk my friend here out of turning you into a stain on the floor.” 

Silas held his palms out in front of him in surrender. “What? You’re here for her? I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. I’ve been sending my agents after her for months, but so far she’s evaded every one. At least, if you can call leaving them a burned out husk ‘evading.’ But it turns out I don’t need her. By examining the effects of her power on the corpses of my men, I was able to make a machine that nearly replicated her abilities. Machines are far more easily controlled.” 

She heard Beebee opening a panel from the small monolith next to her, “It’s synthetically grown nervous tissue. It’s linked with… Jesus, the value of all this refined element zero is enough to buy a freighter.” 

“You can have it all, and more! Just let me live. Take the Eezo now and once I’m in a secure location I’ll transfer double its value in credits!” 

“We don’t care about your money. If you had knowledge of the Ardat-Yakshi, then maybe we could negotiate.” 

“I… I could send more people to look for her! I can fund your mission! If you let me transfer my research, I’ll give you everything Cerberus was going to pay me!” 

“Shepard!” Jack cut in, “You can’t let him sell this shit to Cerberus. You should let me tear him to pieces, then we tear this place apart and make sure no one else gets their hands on this.” 

Shepard paused for a few seconds to think. Then nodded to Jack. 

“NO! WAIT! YOU DON’T-” Where Silas had been begging for his life a tenth of a second prior there was now a cloud of crimson gore. The sound of wet chunks of flesh gently thudded against the walls and floor as the remains of his body tumbled into a disorganized puddle. 

“Uggh! That felt good.” Jack groaned in satisfaction. 

Shepard looked over her shoulder at their asari companion. She worried that she may not be quite so desensitized to violence as herself, especially the extreme violence for which Jack had a penchant. Her eyes were wide in shock. “Beebee, are you all right?” 

“Umm, yeah. I’ve just… I’ve never seen combat biotics like that up close.” she replied, struggling to shake off the mental image of Silas’s body coming undone. 

“A strong warp field on a human with no armor, no shields, they pop like a fuckin’ water balloon.” Jack clarified with a satisfaction that was almost post-orgasmic. 

“Noted.” Beebee still had a slightly haunted quality to her face. “I say we snag the eezo, then blast this machine and the rest of this research to hell.” 

“You want to rob him?” 

“Morinth isn’t here. Next on the list is Delan Tiran, right? There’s someone we’ll need to save when we get to him. And saving her is going to be… expensive.” 

“Okay, let’s do it.” 

The three of them spent the next few hours loading the element zero into some of the cargo containers on Melok’s ship. Jack grumbled about having to do manual labor, but was eventually permitted to vent her frustrations on the inside of Silas’s lab. She made damned sure that nothing could be recovered 

“To Shrike Abyssal,” Beebee told Melok as they closed the airlock, “I’ve got to see a volus about a suit.” 

***

“So what can you tell me about Tiran?” Shepard asked on the multi-hour journey. 

“He’s cunning, even among salarians. Just a few years ago, he was considered a low-level pirate. But he has a certain talent for turning opportunities to his advantage. I’m sorry to say that my Master and I were taken in by one of his schemes. That’s part of how he became as formidable as he is now.” 

“You helped him?” 

“Not on purpose. Apparently, he took a significant risk and lost several of his team to make what he considered a sizeable bounty; shortly after, a quarian pirate named Sholi’Far vas Terminus swooped in and stole it from him. He was humiliated, and vowed revenge. He orchestrated it so that Sholi would be captured, and end up in our hands. I trained her to serve, to dedicate her life to one who was worthy of her service. There were many who offered us small fortunes for her, but we turned them down, they wouldn’t have used her skills for good. She was with us for months, we formed a close bond. But we finally we found someone who was a match for her. Or so we thought. A salarian starship engineer who designed evac ships for disaster relief. Claimed he could use a quarian to streamline the mechanical elements so his ships would have more room to transport refugees and displaced colonists.” she sighed, “I should have vetted him better.” 

“I’m guessing his aspirations weren’t quite so charitable?” Shepard asked.

“From what I hear, he stripped her of her environmental suit and keeps her prisoner in a clean-room. He made her design an army of mechs with an advanced VI. You see, Sholi never risked her own people when she was a pirate. She always sent mechs into the line of fire. She didn’t have the same aversion to Virtual Intelligences that most quarians have.” 

“I thought that when you train someone, they become completely devoted to their owner. The way you are.” 

“They do! She is! He didn’t need to take her suit away. He didn’t need to keep her prisoner. She’d have done anything he wanted, and done it happily. I think he just did it to humiliate her. The way she humiliated him.” 

“So that’s why we need an environmental suit. You want to rescue her.” Shepard understood the compulsion. 

Beebee nodded, “She was a sister to me. We considered keeping her, but we thought we’d found a place where she could do more good… I wanted that for her.” She seemed wistful. “I want to make up for my mistake. That’s why I’m getting her a suit from Dirin Vol. He apprenticed under the design engineer Irit Non, before she joined up with the Andromeda Initiative. Irit Non is the best enviro-suit engineer in the galaxy, but she’s not taking commissions anymore. Dirin Vol is the next best thing. And he owes me a favor, one of his top seamstresses is a former asari mercenary that I trained.” 

“If he owes you a favor, why are we bringing along this element zero to pay him with?” Shepard asked. 

“Seeing me on short notice is the favor. Normally one would wait months for a suit if they’re  _ lucky _ . And believe it or not,” she tapped the cargo container filled with a small fortune worth of eezo, “this is the  _ friend _ price.” 

Shepard nodded in acknowledgement. A moment passed, “What do you think the chances are that we’ll find Morinth at the next location?” 

“Hard to say. It’s a big galaxy. Delan Tiran almost exclusively uses mechs now, so he’d have a rare advantage over Morinth’s power. But even if she’s not there, Tiran is a bad guy who needs to be taken down, and there’s even a damsel in… well, not exactly distress, but her considerable talents are being misused.” 

It’s not as though Shepard had never helped a crewman resolve personal business before; during her last mission, it seemed like half of what she did was helping squad members put the skeletons in their closet to rest. But this seemed different. Try as she might, she couldn’t fully shake the feeling that she was somehow being used. That, along with what happened at Silas Bernstrom’s compound; the biotic blast, the telepathy-proof shield, something was off. Her gut told her that there was more to Dr. Biavalia Bi’tarah than meets the eye. Even so, she didn’t sense danger. Whatever this girl might be scheming, it doesn’t involve hurting people. 

“So how long do you need to get the suit ready?” Shepard asked, changing the subject slightly. 

“Probably two or three days. And honestly, with everything that’s been happening lately, I could use a bit of time obsessing over fabric swatches and pocket placement. And maybe I’ll look for a nice dance club where I can shake my tits and find another open-minded asari slut to lez out with for a night.” 

Shepard stifled a surprised laugh. It was almost comical the way she so effortlessly segued from a tone of professionalism to that of a trashy porn actress. 

“Speaking of hot girl-on-girl action…”  _ And there she goes again,  _ Shepard thought, “I was thinking maybe you could use the time for that date you and Jack have been planning.” 

“Why do I get the sense that you had something to do with that?” Shepard smirked with mock accusation. 

“Oh, I’m sure Jack just finally realized what a fool she’d been for thinking she could withstand your irresistible charm!” she giggled as she sat down next to Shepard on the small shipping container. Shepard always thought of herself as a bit awkward when it came to relationships, she had always been just as girl-crazy as any of the other marines she’d trained with coming up in the Alliance, but her boldness in love never did match her boldness in combat. 

“I guess I could spend some time with Jack. Got any pointers so I don’t make a fool of myself?” 

Beebee grinned widely, “I thought you’d never ask! Firstly, girl up a little bit, and I don’t just mean your look. Be a little more… passive. Let her be in charge.”

Shepard raised her eyebrows skeptically, “Last I heard, Jack doesn’t really want the ‘girls club’ thing.” 

“Oh, Jack doesn’t know what she wants!” she said with a wave of her hand, “Honestly, I think it just confuses her because you’re basically a father figure with a pussy.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“Well, you’re an authority, a protector. You have a strength and sternness to you, and while you are loving, there’s also a sense of emotional distance. I think if you were a man, she would have been crazy about you. Jack never had the chance to have parents, so there’s sort of an empty space inside her in the shape of a mother and father. Unfortunately, you’re not the right shape to fill either space, but I think if you were a little more ...maternal, you could get pretty close.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks, Beebee.” 

***

  
  


The dive bar that Jack had chosen for their date would have seemed a bit shady by the standards of most citizens of the galaxy, but compared to her normal hangouts, it seemed downright wholesome. 

Shepard had originally been less-than-pleased that Jack wanted to go to a bar on their date, but she had been assured that the view was worth the small detour to the little-known world in the Urla-Rast system. While the utilitarian watering hole was poorly cleaned and almost as poorly lit, Shepard couldn’t deny that the view was awe-inspiring. The bar sat at the edge of a cliff, with balconies overlooking a beach of turquoise sand; the indigo-colored sky reflected against the water as a deep blue-violet. She’d have wondered why this isn’t a more popular tourist destination, but the constant pull of the planet’s mass put any wonders to rest. At 1.4 times Earth standard gravity, there was a perpetual sense of standing on a vessel that was accelerating straight up. 

“Here, I ordered some real food for you.” Shepard said as she plopped the bowl of sliced fruit she’d ordered from a surprisingly accommodating vorcha a few moments before. “You should take better care of yourself; eat things with some actual nutrients now and then.” 

Jack glanced at her curiously, before picking up a yellow cube from the bowl and popping it into her mouth. “Damn Shepard, I didn’t know you cared.” Her tone seemed halfway between sarcasm and sincerity. 

There was a long pause. Shepard always felt in her element during a crisis, but on a date, making small talk… a small part of her hoped that a gun-fight would break out, that might calm her nerves. “So… do you ever think about long term plans? Do you want to settle down someday and get away from all the chaos and violence?” 

“I’ll be honest with ya, I never thought of myself as someone with a “long-term” to plan for. I’ve been fighting to survive my whole life, and you can bet your ass I’ll keep on fighting, but eventually, everyone goes down.” 

_ Not exactly a cheery subject _ , Shepard thought to herself, “Read any good books lately?” she asked with a sigh. 

“Actually, Beebee gave me one a little while ago. Said she snagged it from Bernstrom’s personal library while we were lootin’ the fucker. Something called  _ Ender’s Game _ ; it’s about what someone in the nineteen-hundreds thought the future would be like.” 

Shepard eased up a bit, her voice hinted at amusement, “How close did they get?” 

“I’m not far into it, but it seems like if the rachni won the war, it would’a been pretty fuckin’ accurate.” a brief pause, “It’s not really about that, though…” 

The way she trailed off made it seem like further questioning would lead down yet another dark path. She felt a small lump of sadness in her throat, as she considered the fact that getting to know Jack was a minefield of trauma and abuse. “Biggest accomplishment?” 

“Destroying a space station. You?” 

“I would say stopping the Collectors, but if I can get you to open up, I might have a bump that down to number two.” 

A slightly self-deprecating smile appeared on Jack’s face. “You’re trying, I get it. This small-talk shit isn’t exactly in my wheelhouse, though.” They’d both been ignoring the sound of the pair of vorcha on the balcony tossing bar-coasters out over the sea and then firing wildly at them with an Elkoss Combine M-8 Avenger, but now Jack’s eyes turned toward the duo. “So let’s try something else.” Whatever idea popped into her head in that moment made her look happy for the first time since the date began. “I throw, you shoot. You hit five in a row, I’ll let you take me to bed.” 

Shepard’s eyebrows shot up, “What?!”

“You heard me.” Jack said as she stood and approached the pair of drunken vorcha. “Don’t think I’m gonna make it easy on you.” 

Shepard knew better than to look a gift-horse in the mouth, so she followed a couple steps behind. After a brief exchange of threats between Jack and the vorcha, they agreed to let the two female humans borrow the assault rifle. 

Jack took five of the coasters and placed them on the railing. Shepard examined the weapon and checked for any damage or modifications that might affect her aim. In the old days, she would have had to compensate for the pull of higher gravity on the rate of drop on the bullet. But modern firearms normally used a nearly microscopic round encased in a mass-effect field, reducing the need such compensations. Still, she was unaccustomed to holding a rifle steady in such high gravity. 

The two vorcha watching them seemed amused, or maybe Shepard was just imagining the smirks on their faces due to the lip-less grin filled with long needle-like teeth. They’d been shooting at the improvised targets since Shepard arrived, and of the several dozen thrown, they’d only hit one, seemingly by pure luck. In addition, the thick-dense musculature of their legs suggested they were far more practiced at navigating daily life in the high-gravity environment. 

She wouldn’t let that discourage her. Jack picked up the first target. A thin amber-colored disk, brittle but easily manufactured in bulk. Without even asking if she was ready, Jack wreathed the small disk in biotic energy and launched it at high velocity out over the blue-green beach. 

_ Shit, of course she’s throwing with her biotics.  _ Shepard quickly took aim at the rapidly shrinking target and fired a volley of rounds until one hit the target about a second and a half later. For a brief moment, Shepard considered a good-natured taunt, something along the lines of  _ Is that the best you can do?  _ But she thought better of it, knowing that Jack could easily make it much harder. “One down, four to go.” 

A hum of biotic energy, and an almost electric-sounding  _ whoosh.  _ Shepard took aim at the next coaster and pulled the trigger. The first burst was too high, and the recoil was pulling the weapon up. The second burst found its mark.  _ Jack didn’t put as much force behind that one, it dropped faster than I expected.  _ “Two down.” 

_ Whoosh!  _

_ Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! _

“That’s three” Shepard stated as the third target popped into shards over the ocean. 

“Maybe you need more of a challenge.” Jack said it as a taunt, flinging the fourth target like a frisbee. Shepard looked down the sights and was about to pull the trigger when she saw a blast of biotic energy come up from the bottom and knock the small disk into a chaotic trajectory.  _ Shit.  _ A burst of assault rifle fire. Nothing. A second burst. The little amber disk was still intact, wobbling rapidly out of sight and toward the ocean.  _ Third time’s the charm _ . Another staccato burst. Hit! It was barely visible, and probably half a second from landing in the water, but the dull crystalline cracking sound carried easily in the thick atmosphere. 

“That was a dirty trick.” Shepard said with a smirk. 

“Never said I play by the rules, girl-scout.” Jack replied. The vorcha nearby seemed transfixed by the show of marksmanship; where previously, they’d seemed smug about the difficulty of the task, they now looked on with an admiration that seemed almost like reluctant veneration. 

Shepard took a breath, waiting for the next throw to come. “Ready when you are.” She could hear the sound of dark-energy being collected into Jack’s hand and wrapping around the little disk. The scent of ozone, familiar to anyone who’d fought alongside a biotic, wafted over to her. 

A crackling hum, a loud electric  _ whoosh,  _ followed almost immediately by a crystalline  _ pop.  _ Jack had given it a bit too much force, the target shattered about ten meters out before Shepard had a chance to even pull the trigger. 

“Rotten luck, Shepard. But hey, four out’a five ain’t bad.” 

“What?!” Shepard said, “That’s not fair.” 

“You’re in Terminus, girl-scout. Nobody gives a shit about ‘fair.’ out here.”

Shepard was frustrated, but decided not to push the issue. It was better to try to go with the flow. There was a pause while Shepard returned the M-8 Avenger to the vorcha. “Want to take a walk on that beach down there?” 

Jack shrugged, “Bit of a cliche, but sure.” 

After a short, but treacherous hike, the two women finally set foot down onto the turquoise sand. They were both breathing hard, and had acquired a few bumps and bruises on the way down, but neither of them particularly minded. Shepard had scraped a knee pretty badly and a few rivulets of blood trailed down her shin. Honestly it brought back thoughts of playing as a child back on Mindoir. Climbing trees and jumping from one building to another. Her parents always told her to be more careful. That is, until the batarians stole her childhood away in an onslaught of blood and fire.  _ Not the time for that _ , Shepard thought. She took Jack’s hand in hers and was relieved when she didn’t pull it away. They began to walk side-by-side listening to the deep, slow hiss of the ocean and looking out onto a landscape of emerald and indigo. 

“Thanks…” Jack said out of nowhere.

“Excuse me?” 

“The trick I pulled back at the bar. You could have made a big deal about it. Said how I’m fucked in the head or I’m a lying piece of shit, and we would’ve yelled and argued and things might have turned bad. Figured you’d try to pull rank on me or somethin’. But you suggested we do this instead. I’m used to people just trying to get what they want from me.”

“Well, I guess the only thing I want is for you to see how special you are.”

Jack laughed, “Oh, you gotta be kidding me. That’s the kinda shit teachers say in after-school specials! You gonna tell me about how I’ve got all this potential if only I’d apply myself? Fuck that!” 

Shepard joked along with her, “You’d better watch your language, young lady. You’re not too old for me to give a spanking to.” The comment had Jack in stitches. Shepard had never seen her enjoy herself so much. 

Her laughter ended with a relaxed sigh. “Fuck, I’m kinda glad Beebee talked me into this.” 

“Kinda figured she had a hand in this.” 

“I’m pretty sure she thinks all problems can be solved with sex.” Jack observed, accurately. 

“Maybe she’s right. Find me the dick on a Reaper and that girl could probably stop the invasion.” 

This elicited a sudden bark of laughter from Jack. The uncharacteristically tawdry joke from the Commander caught her off guard. The reaction faded into a smile and lingering eye contact. 

Jack stopped walking, but kept an easy smile on her face. The two of them looked into each others eyes for several seconds. “Take off your clothes.” Jack finally said. 

Shepard looked around, they had walked far enough from the bar that no one would be able to see them. The sun was nearing the horizon and the indigo tones of the sky and water were turning magenta.

She took a step back, pushing one strap of her black dress off, then the other. The dress fell down to join the billions of aquamarine colored grains adorning the beach. Her small but firm breasts were bare, lacking the need for a bra. Her panties were black, lace, and slightly sheer. After Jack’s comments about her undergarments back on Omega, she’d made sure to wear something sexy. 

Jack nodded with approval at the lacy undergarment, but gestured with a finger to remove it as well. Shepard hooked her thumbs into the waistband and pushed them down to join the dress at her feet. Stepping forward, her naked body covered by nothing but the small rectangle of scarlet hair above her clit. 

“Lay down.” An order that Shepard was happy to obey. Jack snapped open the front of her pants and let them fall, she wore nothing underneath. She took a step forward until she was standing over the Commander, her feet on either side of her waist. “I’ve seen you trying to sneak a peek back on the ship. Go ahead and get a good look.” 

It was true, Shepard’s eyes had lingered over Jack’s body on more than one occasion. But this was the first time she really got a chance to stare. The features of Jack’s body were always a bit difficult to interpret. The maze of tattoos that covered her had a tendency to confuse the eye. Her skin was more inked than not. The small spot between her legs was still bare, though. And beautiful. 

Jack wasn’t quite as old as Shepard, only a bit into her twenties, and something about her pussy seemed almost scandalously young. Her skin looked fresh, and firm. Whatever hair removal technique she used left no trace that hair had ever obscured any part of her body. Her outer labia were prominent, and puffy. Even standing widely, they barely opened to hint at the bright pink inner lips. 

“You can kiss it if you want.” Jack said. Her tone suggested she had an almost arrogant pride about her sex appeal. Shepard sat up and craned her neck to bring her mouth toward the woman’s cunt. Her mouth opened and her tongue pushed forward seductively. At the last instant there was a painful  _ ZAP _ to the tip of her tongue. She let out a quiet yelp and heard Jack gasp slightly. A static discharge, a common occurrence for biotics; on a metal ship there were plenty of opportunities for a biotic to dump the excess electricity into their environment, but out here in nature, the charge had built up. The tip of her tongue was still buzzing when Jack roughly grabbed her crimson locks. “Hey! I said kiss, not lick.” Her voice was firm, but not hostile. 

“Sorry, Ma’am. Won’t happen again.” Shepard replied with a grin.  _ Following orders has never been this fun before.  _ Shepard thought. She closed her mouth and tried again. As her lips touched Jack’s slit there was no shock this time. She puckered slowly, affectionately kissing the hairless vulva. There was a sound of gentle suction as she slowly pulled away and looked up at the woman in anticipation of her next command.

“Lay back down. You can play with yourself while you look at me.” 

_ Tease!  _ Shepard thought with delight as she obeyed and gazed upon the slender form over her. Her hands moved down and caressed over her fiery red pubic hair to reach her own shaven lips. She ran a finger up and down her own slit as she looked up at Jack’s. 

The hairless woman was still dressed in her leather jacket and boots. She playfully opened one side of the jacket, then the other, giving Shepard the chance to look up at her perky little tits and obviously erect nipples. She began slowly tracing lines across her torso with her fingertips. At the same time, she began slowly shifting her hips in a gentle, arrhythmic dance. The Commander had dipped two fingers into her cunt. Her palm rubbed against her clit as her fingertips stimulated her g-spot.  _ This is amazing _ , she thought. She had never been so aroused without being touched. Looking straight up into Jack’s beautiful cunt as her body writhed above it almost made her cum right then and there. But she held off. 

Despite the fact that Jack’s youthful breasts seemed almost immune to gravity, her muscles weren’t, and standing for so long appeared to be taking its toll. She dropped to her knees with a somewhat dramatic force. “Remember, Shepard, you can look, but don’t touch.” She wasn’t sure why the denial made her so hot. Jack’s knees were now just outside her shoulders. Her naked cunt spread wide less than a foot in front of her face. Shepard’s body was tensed from chest to toes as she went from making love to her fingers to fiercely fucking them. The woman above her closed her eyes as her hands ran over her own skin, her fingers eventually reaching her own center of pleasure. Jack’s middle finger made small, quick circles as she rubbed her clitoris. She paused rubbing periodically to give herself a few firm slaps between the legs. She grunted in pleasure-pain as she did so. 

She watched as Jack touched herself, one hand between her legs, the other moving across her tattooed skin, sometimes joining her other hand between her legs, but mostly stimulating her breasts, pinching and tugging on her petite nipples. She strained to hold off so that they could reach climax simultaneously, but it was no use. Her breath caught in her throat as her ass tensed hard enough to push her pelvis up into the air. She was fingering herself furiously as she stared up at Jack touching her perfectly formed cunt. She began moaning uncontrollably as wave after wave of pleasure exploded from between her legs. It was a few dozen seconds before Shepards orgasm finally died down; though rather than withdrawing her fingers, she simply slowed her pace, readying herself for a second round. She could tell Jack was close. 

Soon after Shepard’s orgasm ended, Jack’s began. Her teeth clenched, with her face scrunching up into a scowl as she looked skyward. Animalistic growling noises escaped her throat as her ecstasy grew. And that’s when it happened, a jet of hot liquid from Jack’s pussy that hit the lying woman in the neck. Several more rhythmic spurts followed, spraying through her fingers and splashing over Shepard from chest to chin. She dipped her tongue down to taste the salty orgasmic liquid. Jack finished with a powerful grunt and collapsed in the sand next to Shepard’s head. The Commander withdrew her fingers from herself and dipped them in the pool of cunt-juice that collected at the bottom of her neck, she brought it gingerly to her tongue. “I didn’t know you were a squirter.” she said in a quiet tone of post-orgasmic bliss. 

“I’m usually not.” Jack replied in the same tone, “Guess you got lucky today.” 

Shepard let out an exhausted chuckle, “I’ll say.” 

“Ya know, I’m not usually into girls so much, but you’re all right, Shepard.” 

She lifted herself up onto one elbow to look over at her directly. “Wait, seriously? I thought you just said that because you wanted to let me down easy.” 

“What can I say, I’m a selfish lover. Chicks don’t usually like that. Plus they’re all either dainty little flowers who want me to protect them, or they’re bitches who wanna feel tough by trying to get me to be their obedient little sidekick.”

“What about Beebee?” 

“Asari don’t count, Shepard. Everybody knows that.” 

“I guess I should feel special, then.”

“Feel however you want, I don’t give a fuck.” 

She did feel special, though. Jack kept just about everyone at arm’s length. Even during a sexual encounter, she maintained a certain distance. Still, she couldn’t help but think that she felt closer to Jack than she had before. 

***

Back on the ship, things were back to normal. Shepard sat patiently in the cargo hold, periodically making small talk with Melok. Jack had retired back down to engineering. There wasn’t much to do other than kill time while they waited for Beebee to return from her own errand to acquire a quarian enviro-suit for the next stage of their mission. 

The naked asari finally returned a few hours later with a large silver case. She tapped the case with a smile, indicating that she was successful in her task. “So how’d the date go??” She asked, almost bouncing with excitement. 

Shepard blushed slightly, “It went well. Your advice really helped.” 

“Yes!” she actually jumped slightly in triumphant celebration. The sight of her jiggling, sapphire flesh was not wasted on Shepard. “I’m going to go down and get the details from Jack! Tell Melok to set a course for the Valhallan Threshold, I’ll be able to point us to Delan Tiran from there.” She set the case down in a corner and rushed down the access ladder to the engineering deck below. 

There was something profoundly likeable about Beebee, her personality seemed designed to put people at ease. But after the peculiarities of the last mission, ease was the last thing she felt. The machine they found and destroyed, it seemed able to control a room full of asari with ease. Bernstom even said it replicated the ability of an Ardat-Yakshi. That begs the question: How was Beebee able to overcome it? Does she have some resistance that she’s hiding? And after she broke free of it’s control, she recalibrated her kinetic barrier to block telepathy. Shepard had never even heard of such a thing, yet she did it so casually. Was Aria T’Loak right? Was Shepard being used as a pawn to lead her to Morinth? It certainly seems like taking out Beebee’s rivals along the way was convenient. But was it too convenient? Or was the world of high-end slavers just that small?

Then again, she wouldn’t be the first crewman to have secrets. Kasumi Goto had been a thief with an enigmatic background. And her tactical cloak was a device of absolutely unique construction. Shepard had already pushed the issue with Beebee more than once, and a gut-feeling wasn’t enough to convict her of anything. Besides, if she  _ was _ telling the truth, than her help would be invaluable on the next few missions. She didn’t know enough to reach a conclusion about her one way or the other, but she knew she was damned sure going to keep digging. 


End file.
